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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

SANTA  BARBARA 

COLLEGE  OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 


Prof.  Upton  Palmer 


^:^^VW^^t-A^v"^ 


Julius  Ccesar. 

From  the  slatiienn  the  Gallerv  of  the  Louvre,  Paris. 
and  Criticai 


Or,   ^  .   i   U  1  IN  /liVl'S  SC 
YORK  AND    


H)aniel  Mebster  ]£Mtion 


THE 
WORLD'S  ORATORS 


Comprising 

THE    GREAT   ORATIONS  OF  THE 
WORLD'S    HISTORY 

With 

Introductory  Essays,  Biographical  Sketches 
and  Critical  Notes 

GUY  CARLETON  LEE,  Ph.D. 

Editor-in-Chief 


VOLUME    II. 

Orators  of  Ancient  Rome 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK   AND   LONDON 

XEbe  IRnicF^erbocher  press 


MCM  III 


Copyright,  1900 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


tTbe  *nfcfeerbocJjec  iprcse,  "Hew  IJorft 


PREFACE 

TO 

THE  ORATORS  OF  ANCIENT  ROME 

THE  Editors  of  this  volume  have  endeavored  to 
present  such  examples  of  Ancient  Roman  Ora- 
tory as  may  best  illustrate  its  development  and  may 
make  good  its  claim  to  a  foremost  place  among  the 
oratorical  systems  of  the  world. 

The  scope  of  the  selection  covers  that  portion  of 
the  history  of  Roman  oratory  that  begins  with  its 
first  authentic  recorded  speech  and  ends  with  the 
close  of  the  Panegyrical  school.  In  covering  this 
wide  field,  speeches  attributed  to  the  earliest  Ro- 
man orators  have  been  taken  from  the  pages  of  the 
historians,  examples  have  been  chosen  from  the 
works  of  the  rhetoricians,  and  orations  have  been 
selected  from  those  works  that  have  been  preserved 
unaltered.  Although  the  Editors  are  in  accord  with 
the  great  majority  of  modern  scholars  in  not  accept- 
ing as  certainly  authentic  the  attribution  of  many 


VOL.  II. 


vi  Preface 

of  the  speeches  cited  in  ancient  historical  works, 
they  are  of  the  opinion  that  among  these  orations 
are  masterpieces  of  Roman  oratory,  and  such  have 
been  accorded  place  in  this  volume. 

Ample  selections  have  been  made  from  the  ora- 
tions of  Cicero.  The  examples  given  illustrate 
every  phase  of  the  art  of  this,  the  greatest  orator  of 
Rome,  and  it  is  believed  that  they  present  a  full 
exemplification  of  the  fullest  development  reached 
by  Roman  oratory. 

The  Editor-in-Chief  calls  attention  to  the  contin- 
uation in  the  present  volume  of  the  policy  of  special 
translations  inaugurated  in  the  first  volume  of  this 
series.  A  large  portion  of  the  famous  Panegyric  on 
Trajan,  by  Pliny  the  Younger,  has  been  translated 
for  this  volume  by  the  Editors,  who  also  have  ren- 
dered into  English  a  number  of  hitherto  untrans- 
lated examples  from  the  works  of  Florus,  Quintilian, 
and  Seneca. 

The  Ciceronian  orations,  as  well  as  the  quota- 
tions from  the  historians,  have  either  been  newly 
translated  or  have  been  specially  edited  for  this 
volume.  In  these  versions  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  present  the  true  oratorical  spirit  of  these 
masterpieces. 

In  selecting  the  illustrations  for  the  volume,  the 
Editors  have  sought  to  secure  those  portraits  that 
have  been  long  associated  with  the  orators  whose 
names  they  bear.    No  more  trustworthy  portraits 


Preface  vii 

exist,  and  yet,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  Editors  are 
not  in  a  position  to  vouch  for  their  authenticity. 

The  Editors  are  under  obligations  to  Kirby  F. 
Smith,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Latin  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  for  valuable  counsel  on  the  preparation 
of  this  volume. 

G.  C.  L. 

Historical  Department, 

Johns  Hopkins  University, 

1899. 


CONTENTS 

Introductory  Essay 

The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  . 


C.  Sallustiiis  Crispus 

Introduction     .        .        .        .        .        .        •  S^ 

From  "The  Conspiracy  of  Catiline  " 

Speech  of  Catiline  to  the  Conspirators       ,        .  jj 
Speech  of  Catiline  to  his  Troops        .        .        .  j6 
Oration  ofCccsar  on  Punishing  the  Conspirators  }g 
Oration  of  M.  Porcius  Cato  against  the  Con- 
spirators          47 

From  "  The  fugurthine  War  " 

Oration  of  Cains  Memmius  against  the  Power 
of  the  Nobility $4 

From  "The  History  of  Rome  " 

Oration  of  Marcus  /Emilius  Lepidus  against 
Sulla 61 

Oration  of  Lucius  Philippus  against  Marcus 
/Emilius  Lepidus 68 

A  Declamation  against  Cicero  .        ...      yd 


VOL.  II. 


l.\ 


X  Contents 

Titus  Lmiis  Pataviniis 

Introduction 83 

From  "The  History  of  Rome  " 

The  Appeal  of  Horathis  for  his  Son 's  Life        .      85 
The  Address  of  Appius  Claudius  against  the 

Power  of  the  Tribunes 87 

The  Speech  of  Lucius  Lentulus  against  Treating 

with  the  Gauls 98 

The  Speech  of  Scipio  to  his  Soldiers  at  his  Camp 

on  the  Ticino loi 

The  Speech  of  Hannibal  to  his  Soldiers  before 

his  First  Battle  with  Scipio    ....     loj 
The  Appeal  of  Marcus  Junius  for  Ransom  for 

the  Romans  Held  Prisoners  by  Hannibal    .     112 
The  Reply  of  Titus  Manlius  Torquatus  to  the 

Appeal  of  Marcus  Junius      .        .        .        .116 

Annmis  Seneca 

Introduction 121 

Example  of  Suasoria /2^ 

Aulus  Gellius 

Introduction /J/ 

From  "  Nodes  Attica^  " 

Part  of  the  Speech  of  M.  Porcius  Cato  in  Be- 
half of  the  Rhodians 133 

Fragments  of  a  Speech  by  Gains  Gracchus       .     /J5 


Contents  xi 


Marcus  Tnllius  Cicero 

Introduction     .        .        .        .        . 

.     139 

Against  Verres 

Part  of  the  Fifth  Oration 

.     143 

Against  Catiline 

The  First  Oration     .... 

.     174 

Against  Antonius 

Part  of  the  Second  Philippic 

,     196 

M.  Fabius  QuintiUanus 

Introduction 

.     243 

Orator,  Physician,  Philosopher 

.     245 

C.  Cornelius  Tacitus 

Introduction 253 

From  the  "Agricola  " 

Calgacus  to  the  Britons  .        .        ,        .        .  255 

Agricola  to  his  Soldiers 260 

The  Death  of  Agricola  .        .        ,        .        .  263 

C.  Plinius  Ccecilius  Secundiis 

Introduction 267 

The  Panegyric  on  Trajan 269 

P.  Annius  Flo r us 

Introduction ^05 

Introduction    to    the   Dialogue,   "  Was   Virgil  an 

Orator  or  a  Poet }  " 307 


THE  WORLD'S  ORATORS 


THE  ORATORY  OF  ANCIENT  ROME 


ROMAN  oratory  is  as  old  as  the  Roman  State. 
Latin  eloquence  existed  before  the  tribes 
settled  on  the  Seven  Hills.  The  earliest  literary 
monuments  of  Italy  are  transcriptions  of  vocal 
effort,  and  the  Arvalian  and  Salian  chants  were 
centuries  old  when  their  oral  transmission  from 
one  brother  to  another  was  replaced  by  the  written 
records  of  a  more  highly  organized  priesthood. 

A  peculiar  fascination  attends  the  study  of  the 
growth  of  national  life,  and  it  has  led  students  of 
the  history  of  literature  to  an  enthusiastic  investi- 
gation of  the  long  and  shadowy  period  of  Roman 
progress  in  eloquence  which  culminated  in  the 
Ciceronian  era.  For  the  history  of  eloquence — the 
spoken  word — cannot  be  separated  from  that  of 
literature — the  written  expression  of  thought, — and 


VOL.  II. — I. 


2  The  World's  Orators 

during  this  long  course  of  progress  Roman  elo- 
quence and  Roman  rhetoric  had  their  beginning 
and  passed  through  every  stage  of  a  well  moulded 
development. 

The  efforts  of  learned  scholars  in  this  field  of 
research,  though  of  great  value,  have  not  been 
productive  of  as  definite  or  abundant  results  as  are 
to  be  desired.  For  study  is  checked  at  its  outset 
by  the  almost  entire  absence  of  examples  of  the 
work  of  the  early  public  speakers.  Investigators 
are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  a  few 
hundred  lines  of  doubtful  authenticity  are  all  that 
remain  of  the  vital  words  that  must  have  stirred 
the  men  of  Ancient  Rome. 

Few  students  are  prepared  to  admit  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  quotations  credited  to  early  orators 
by  Livy,  Gellius,  Cicero,  Seneca,  Tacitus,  Sallust, 
Quintilian,  and  other  historians  and  rhetoricians. 
Yet  the  mere  existence  of  such  quotations  must 
have  no  small  weight  with  the  most  sceptical,  in 
establishing  the  fact  that,  long  before  any  authentic 
oration  which  has  been  preserved  in  its  original  form, 
there  existed  a  system  and  art  of  oratory  that  was 
of  a  high  order  of  merit.  The  historians  did  not 
create  orators  from  their  imagination  ;  although  it 
may  well  be  that,  because  the  traditions  of  the 
past  established  beyond  a  doubt  the  existence  of 
such  orators  and  handed  down  some  memory  of 
their  eloquence,  the  historians  put  speeches  into 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  3 

their  mouths.  The  existence  of  a  systematic  study 
of  oratory,  however  imperfect  it  might  be  when 
compared  with  later  methods,  is  abundantly  and 
convincingly  shown  in  the  incidental  references  in 
historical  works  to  orators,  to  eloquence,  and  to 
the  training  of  the  young  in  the  art  of  public 
speaking. 

The  argument  from  comparative  literature  is 
no  less  convincing.  This  science  establishes  the 
proposition  that  no  people  of  remote  antiquity  in 
the  beginning  ot  their  collected  existence  used 
written  language  as  a  means  of  ordinary  communi- 
cation between  men  as  men,  or  between  men  as 
rulers  and  ruled.  The  admitted  absence  at  Rome 
of  an  early  national  literature,  a  deficiency  the 
more  striking  by  its  continuance  to  the  third  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  proves  the  necessity  of  elo- 
quence as  a  means  of  expressing  the  thought  of 
the  nation. 

For  though  the  assertion  that  the  nation  did  not 
write  is  susceptible  of  proof,  yet  the  declaration 
that  a  nation  does  not  think  has  never  been  made. 
Thought  must  have  expression,  and  Roman 
thought  found  voice  in  ballads,  sagas,  prose  reci- 
tations, and  speeches  of  which  to-day  only  mem- 
ories remain.  The  history  of  the  eloquence  of 
early  Rome  is  a  record  of  memories.  We  listen 
for  the  voices  of  her  orators,  and  only  broken 
echoes  reverberate  from  the  past. 


4  The  World's  Orators 

The  splendor  of  Grecian  oratory  has  often 
dazzled  the  student  and  prevented  him  from  ob- 
taining a  correct  view  of  the  eloquence  of  Rome. 
A  step  from  the  sunlight  of  imagination  into  the 
sober  shade  of  fact  will  give  the  critic  a  new  point 
of  view,  and  since  the  statement  that  eloquence 
existed  before  Cicero  has  already  been  proved,  he 
will  the  more  easily  pass  to  a  consideration  of 
the  scope  and  value  of  early  Roman  oratory. 

In  the  beginning  of  its  history,  the  eloquence  of 
Rome  was,  as  were  the  people,  rude  and  vehement. 
It  appealed  to  sentiment  and  passion,  rather  than 
to  intellect.  The  Romans  were  men  of  action,  and 
their  public  speakers  were  strong  men  who  gained 
the  attention  of  the  people  by  the  force  of  their 
personality.  They  spoke  extemporaneously  and 
briefly.  Their  speeches  contained  little  of  logical 
arrangement  or  formal  argument,  but  were  positive 
and  passionate  appeals  in  which  conclusions  were 
stated  rather  than  proved.  With  this  view  the 
historians  Livy,  Gellius,  Dionysius,  as  well  as 
Cicero,  Tacitus,  and  Quintilian,  are  in  accord. 

Irrespective  of  the  historical  value  of  such 
orations  as  those  of  Romulus  to  the  Sabines,  of 
Servius  Tullius  to  the  people,  of  Brutus  standing 
by  the  body  of  Lucretia  and  arousing  Rome  to  ex- 
pel the  Tarquins,  these  speeches,  by  whomsoever 
composed  and  to  whatever  epoch  attributable, 
voice  the  historical  conception  of  the  character  of 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  5 

the  earliest  oratory  and  are  as  clear,  forceful,  and 
effective  as  the  most  stirring  words  of  the  modern 
agitators. 

Why  should  not  the  men  of  Rome  have  been 
virile  orators  ?  The  history  of  their  city  was  filled 
with  stirring  incidents  in  which  force  triumphed  ; 
it  bristled  with  critical  periods  in  which  might 
prevailed ;  it  teemed  with  adventures  in  which 
strength  bore  off  the  prize.  Force,  might,  strength, 
— and  the  synonyms  are  capable  of  extended 
multiplication, — all  express  manliness,  the  distin- 
guishing attribute  of  the  Roman. 

The  Senate,  the  Forum,  and  the  battle-field  rang 
with  energetic,  powerful,  convincing  v^ords,  such 
as  those  which  were  used  by  Menenius  Agrippa, , 
when  he  moved  the  Plebeians  to  return  to  the  city, 
when  its  existence  was  threatened  by  their  seces- 
sion ;  by  Memmius,  when  he  denounced  the 
tyranny  of  the  nobility  ;  and  by  Appius  Claudius 
CiEcus,  when  he  stirred  the  halting  Senate  to 
patriotic  action,  and  saved  Rome  from  the  intrigues 
of  the  King  of  Pontus. 

Roman  eloquence  was  strong  and  convincing. 
It  was  of  the  every-day  as  well  as  the  special  oc- 
casion. It  was,  except  where  emotion  or  passion 
moved  the  speaker,  essentially  matter-of-fact,  and, 
by  a  natural  sequence  of  events,  became  more  and 
more  logical  as  it  adapted  itself  to  the  needs  of  an 
eminently  practical  and  progressive  people.     We 


6  The  World's  Orators 

must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  this  materialistic 
eloquence  had  another  side,  not  so  highly  de- 
veloped, it  is  true,  but  still  important ;  for  though 
Roman  eloquence  did  not  possess  that  imagination 
and  grace  that  distinguished  the  Grecian  style,  yet 
it  was  by  no  means  devoid  of  beauty,  imagery,  and 
poetry,  and  these  qualities  increased  until  in  the 
Ciceronian  epoch  the  oratory  of  Rom.e  rivalled  that 
of  Greece.  The  Roman  nature  was  not  without 
stimulus  to  create  and  to  appreciate  the  beautiful, 
for  the  nation  possessed  a  host  of  heroes,  about 
whom  arose  a  national  religion.  The  heroes  be- 
came demi-gods,  rivalling  the  Pantheon.  The 
stories  of  the  Roman  gods  and  the  legends  of  the 
years  of  the  kings  were  stimulating  influences  that 
left  their  trace  upon  the  national  eloquence. 

Whether  or  no  we  may  regard  the  eloquence  of 
early  Rome  as  true  oratory  depends  upon  the 
meaning  given  to  the  terms  ;  if  oratory  is  eloquence 
shaped  by  art,  then  we  have  no  proof  of  its  exist- 
ence in  the  first  centuries  of  Roman  history  ;  if,  on 
the  contrary,  eloquence  and  oratory  are  synonyms 
for  effective  speech  in  public,  then  the  early  exist- 
ence of  true  oratory  cannot  be  denied.  But  with- 
out quibbling  upon  definitions,  we  are  justified  in 
asserting  that  the  growth  of  oratory,  as  most 
strictly  defined,  began  to  take  form  during  the  first 
years  of  the  Republic,  if  not  earlier,  in  the  funeral 
oration, — a  type  of  expression  that  we  may  call 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  7 

the  second  stage  in  Roman  oratorical  development, 
as  we  may  call  the  oration  of  action,  in  its  various 
forms,  the  first. 

The  funeral  oration,  or  Eulogy,  is  a  type  of 
oratory  which  has  been  asserted  with  some  plausi- 
bility, but  no  certainty,  to  have  originated  in 
Rome.  The  differences  between  the  Roman  and 
the  Grecian  eulogy  have  been  used  as  an  argument 
for  the  Roman  claim  ;  for  when  the  orators  of 
Greece  commenced  to  devote  themselves  to  this 
form  of  address,  they  seemed  to  improve  rather 
than  to  originate  it.  The  eulogies  of  Rome  were 
narrower  in  their  scope,  more  private  in  their 
nature,  and  directed  to  fewer  auditors  than  those 
of  Greece.  There,  the  eulogists  addressed  the 
many,  and  taking  for  their  themes  subjects  of  ab- 
sorbing and  national  interest,  used  their  opportunity 
to  rouse  the  people  to  seek  higher  planes  of 
thought  or  to  carry  out  meritorious  lines  of  action. 
The  early  Roman  eulogies  were  essentially  per- 
sonal, and  were  pronounced  as  a  tribute  to  the 
deceased  by  a  near  relative  or  intimate  friend. 
They  may,  in  fact,  be  characterized  as  the  mourn- 
ing of  a  family  for  its  dead. 

Cicero,  in  the  Brutus,  has  ridiculed  the  eulogy ;  ^ 
but  his  strictures,  when  applied  to  the  early  types, 
lose  somewhat  in  force,  not  so  much  because  of 
an  error  in  criticism,  for  eulogies  notoriously  falsi- 
fied history,  but  because  of  a  failure  to  give  proper 


8  The  World's  Orators 

importance  to  the  eulogy  as  a  step  in  oratorical 
development.  For,  despite  the  fact  that  in  the 
days  of  Cicero  it  had  degenerated  into  a  despised 
type  of  extravagant  declamation  much  affected  by 
ambitious  youth,  the  funeral  oration  was  the 
foundation  of  formal  public  speech. 

The  first  funeral  oration  cited  by  the  historians 
is  that  of  Valerius  Publicola,  in  the  fifth  century 
before  Christ,  upon  L.  Junius  Brutus,  leader  of  the 
revolutionary  movement  by  which  the  Tarquins 
were  driven  from  Rome.  This  oration,  with  those 
of  Fabius  Maximus  upon  Quintus  Fabius  and  Cn. 
Manlius,  of  Appius  Claudius  and  of  Q.  Metellus 
upon  Lucius  Metellus,  all  quoted  by  Livy,  give  us 
the  conception  of  that  author  of  the  form  of  the 
earliest  eulogy. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  funeral  orations  is 
that  ascribed  by  Livy  and  Plutarch  to  L.  Paullus 
y^milius.  This  great  oration  was  pronounced  be- 
fore the  people  of  Rome  by  L.  Paullus  y^milius 
after  his  return  from  the  victorious  campaign  in 
which  he  had  defeated  Perseus  of  Macedonia  at  the 
battle  of  Pydna.  On  this  occasion,  while  render- 
ing an  account  of  his  campaign,  y^milius  could  not 
refrain  from  speaking  of  his  two  sons,  one  of  whom 
had  died  five  days  before,  and  the  other  five  days 
after,  the  returning  general's  triumph.  In  this  beau- 
tiful speech,  which  is  a  masterpiece  of  oratory, 
whether  it  be  the  work  of  Livy  or  of  y^milius,  the 


The  Oratoiy  of  Ancient  Rome  9 

speaker  contrasted  the  fortunes  of  the  Republic 
with  the  fortunes  of  his  house.  The  successes  of 
the  Republic  had  been  glorious,  but  he  had  feared 
a  change  in  the  will  of  the  gods.  This  change  had 
come,  but  he  rejoiced  that  misfortune  fell  on  him 
and  not  on  the  Republic,  and  that  his  personal 
unhappiness  had  averted  the  disasters  with  which 
Rome  was  threatened. 

Funeral  orations  were  of  two  classes :  The  family  < 
eulogy — a  narrow,  boastful  production  that,  be- 
cause of  its  exclusive  and  personal  character,  did 
not  keep  pace  with  the  literary  development  of 
Rome, — and  the  public  eulogy,  one  of  the  most  im-  ^ 
portant  types  of  oratory,  and  worthy  of  the  efforts 
of  the  most  talented  orators,  by  whom  it  was  given 
a  splendor  and  richness  unknown  to  other  forms  of 
early  eloquence. 

The  third  type  of  oratory,  which  originated  in 
the  early  period  of  Rome's  history,  was  the  mili- 
tary oration.  It  was  born  of  the  camp  and  the 
battle-field,  and  a  martial  tone  rang  through  its 
spirited  periods.  If  we  are  to  judge  the  value  of 
this  form  of  oration  from  the  examples  given  by 
the  historians,— and  we  have  no  other  guide, — 
we  must  assign  to  it  an  important  place.  When 
we  consider  the  character  of  the  Roman  people, 
the  endless  strife,  the  constant  wars,  we  are  led 
to  agree  in  this  estimate  with  Livy,  Gellius,  Sal- 
lust,  and  other  chroniclers,  in  whose  pages  are 


lo  The  World's  Orators 

recorded  such  striking  examples  of  miHtary  elo- 
quence as  the  speeches  of  Hannibal,  Scipio,  and 
Catiline  to  their  soldiers.  Whether  we  assign 
these  orations  to  the  soldier  or  to  the  historian, 
whether  to  the  earliest  centuries  or  to  the  first 
before  Christ,  we  must  admit  them  to  be  striking 
examples  of  effective  speaking. 

In  the  third  century  before  the  Christian  era,  the 
art  of  oratory  had  become,  through  native  aptitude 
and  Grecian  influence,  a  necessary  part  of  the  edu- 
cation of  a  Roman.  From  this  period,  oratory  was 
especially  cultivated,  but  it  was  taught  by  imita- 
—  tion  and  practice  rather  than  by  formal  rules  and 
elaborate  systems.  It  is  probable  that  no  impor- 
tant treatise  on  oratory  antedates  the  De  Oratore 
of  Cicero.  The  youth  were  encouraged  to  listen  to 
w  the  words  of  the  great  orators,  and  then  by  imita- 
tion of  word  and  gesture  to  perfect  themselves  in 
public  speaking.  This  training  was  not  reserved 
for  the  special  occasion  and  stated  and  limited 
times,  but  was  a  matter  of  every-day  occurrence. 
It  was  carried  on  in  the  market-place,  law  court, 
Forum,  and  Senate,  and  went  hand  in  hand  with 
the  practical  preparations  for  the  work  of  life. 
From  such  a  system  of  instruction  came  the  prac- 
tical, logical,  and  withal  vital  method  of  oratory 
that  distinguished  the  art  at  Rome. 

Stirring  as  was  the  military  address,  emotional 
as  was  the  funeral  oration,  and  effective  as  was  the 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  ii 

eloquence  of  action,  yet  the  early  forms  of  these 
types  of  oratory  were  inadequate  to  the  needs  of 
the  many-sided,  rapidly  developing  people  dwell- 
ing by  the  Tiber.  Interest  in  the  study  of  orator- 
ical forms  and  their  practice  became  general. 
Roman  life  was  active,  advancing,  conquering. 
The  nation  was  successfully  solving  the  greatest 
problems  of  law  and  government.  The  heroic 
legends  had  been  woven  into  a  vital  and  personal 
religion.  In  the  absence  of  a  literature  the  orators 
voiced  the  people's  thought,  and  the  necessity  for 
a  development  of  the  oratorical  art  was  brought 
home  to  the  people.  The  ability  to  speak  in  pub- 
lic became,  of  necessity,  an  attribute  of  the  Ro- 
man. It  was  not  confined  to  the  adult,  nor  even 
to  the  males.     It  was  a  national  characteristic. 

With  the  progress  of  the  nation  came  the  fourth 
and  greatest  of  the  types  of  Roman  eloquence. 
This  was  Political  oratory,  with  its  two  great 
divisions,  the  eloquence  of  the  Senate,  and  the 
eloquence  of  the  Forum.  The  latter  includes  the 
eloquence  of  the  public  meeting,  or  irregular,  non- 
official  gathering. 

We  must  not  be  too  precise  in  this  separation  of 
oratorical  types  and  endeavor  to  assign  them  to 
immutable  bounds  and  limits  of  character  and  of 
time.  Any  such  limitation  would  be  inaccurate, 
for  the  progress  of  oratorical  development  shows 
no  distinct  starting-points  of  this  or  of  that  type, 


i^" 


12  The  World's  Orators 

no  rigid  exclusion-lines  of  quality,  and  as  in  char- 
acteristics, so  is  it  in  time  limits.  The  end  of  one 
form  blends  with  the  beginning  of  another,  or 
again,  two  or  more  forms  may  exist  side  by  side, 
sometimes  distinct,  sometimes  blending. 

Political  oratory,  from  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century,  gained  that  preeminence  which  it  main- 
tained through  the  life  of  the  Republic.     At  the 
downfall  of  that  form  of  government  it  declined 
___     and  yielded  the  first  place  to  the  fifth  form,  of 
Roman  oratory,  that  of  the  law  courts,  which  con- 
tested for  public  appreciation  with  the  last  type  of 
eloquence  to  be  considered,  the  oratory  of  display, 
as  exemplified  in  the  Declamation  and  the  Pane- 
^'     i    gyric,  which,  in  their  turn,  were  displaced  by  the 
oratory  of  the  Christian  Church. 
The  two  varieties  of  political  oratory  present 
y      ^    many  contrasts:  they^differ  in  method,  orators, 
^  and  audience.    They  ^fe  alike  only  in  purpose. 

Such  great  senatorial  orators  as  Antonius,  Crassus, 
Hortensius,  and  Cicero  were  the  leading  scholars, 
as  they  were  the  leading  statesmen  of  their  period. 
In  the  Senate  they  addr^sed  a  small,  aristocratic 
body  of  grave,  thoughtful,  educated,  experienced, 
and  generally  able  men.  The  speeches  delivered 
in  the  Senate  were  noted  for  calm,  cool  argument, 
and  although,  as  a  rule,  the  oration  was  brief,  it 
was  not  abrupt,  nor  was  it  devoid  of  ornamenta- 
tion.    A  certain  majestic  flow  of  clear,  smooth. 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  13 

fervent,  authoritative  statement,  gave  to  senatorial 
oratory  an  unparalleled  effectiveness. 

The  oratory  of  the  Forum  was  all  that  the 
oratory  of  the  Senate  was  not.  In  the  Forum  the 
speech  was  part  of  a  polemical  debate — a  struggle 
between  orators.  There,  movement,  force,  fire, 
and  brilliant  display  were  necessary  to  success. 
There,  gesture,  little  used  in  the  Senate,  played  an 
important  part.  There,  multitudes — thousands  of 
the  common  people,  ignorant,  passionate,  easy  to 
move,  and  difficult  to  control — listened  to  the  type 
of  orator  exemplified  by  Memmius,  Cato,  and  the 
Gracchi. 

The  world  has  had  five  great  schools  of  secular 
oratory.  These  are  the  Grecian,  Roman,  Oriental, 
Modern  Latin,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Each  has 
subdivisions,  and  yet  each  possesses  the  elements 
of  a  more  or  less  homogeneous  whole.  We  may 
better  study  the  nature  of  the  political  oratory  of 
the  Roman  Republic  by  comparing  it  with  the 
same  type  of  Grecian  and  Anglo-Saxon  eloquence. 
Roman  oratory  of  this  period  had  little  in  common 
with  the  Asiatic  school,  and  still  less  with  the 
modern  Oriental.  Though  Roman  oratory  may  be 
the  foundation  of  the  Modern  Latin  school,  which 
embraces  the  oratory  of  France,  Spain,  and  the 
other  Latin  nations,  yet  this  foundation  was  not 
the  oratory  of  the  Republic,  but  of  a  later  period 
with  which  we  are  not  here  concerned.    We  are, 


v_ 


1^ 


14  The  World's  Orators 

therefore,  justified  in  excluding  the  Oriental  and 
Modern  Latin  schools  from  our  comparison. 

The  oratory  of  Greece  and  Rome  was  popular, 
as  popular  as  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Yet  as  the 
Grecian  and  Roman  people  differed,  so  did  the  / 
oratory.  The  forceful  Roman  demanded  from  an 
orator  a  virility  unknown  to  Greece.  The  con- 
quering Latin  was  moved  by  his  passions ;  his 
public  speakers  sacrificed  grace  to  force,  but  gained 
in  grandeur  what  they  lost  in  polish.  Greece  re- 
quired finished  grace,  exquisite  style  and  polished 
logic ;  her  orators  were  armed  with  rapiers  that 
would  have  shivered  before  the  broadsword  of 
Roman  eloquence. 

Yet  Roman  eloquence,  though  forceful,  was  not 
rude  ;  it  was  strong,  but  well  adapted  to  its  audi- 
tors, upon  whom  the  Greek  style  would  have 
been  ineffective,  because  it  would  have  been  re- 
garded as  artificial,  cold,  and  insincere.  The  elo- 
quence of  Rome,  in  its  earliest  historical  period, 
found  its  highest  expression  in  the  Senate,  and 
Senatorial  eloquence  is  comparable  to  Parliamen- 
tary eloquence  in  England  and  Congressional  ora- 
tory in  America.  It  should  not  be  compared  to 
the  oratory  of  either  the  House  of  Lords  or  the 
American  Senate,  although  it  often  bore  that  aris- 
tocratic stamp  which  marks  the  debates  of  those 
exclusive  bodies.  Neither  was  Roman  Senatorial 
oratory  exactly  comparable  to  the  oratory  of  the 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  15 

House  of  Commons  or  that  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, although  the  party  spirit  and  freedom 
of  speech  that  were  marked  features  of  Senatorial 
oratory  gave  it  a  popular  cast.  In  fact,  the  oratory 
of  the  Roman  Senate  contained  these  elements 
which  we  find  in  both  the  upper  and  lower 
houses  of  modern  legislative  bodies.  It  may, 
therefore,  be  characterized  as  resembling,  in  a 
marked  degree,  the  form  of  oratory  known  as 
Parliamentary. 

The  oratory  of  the  Forum,  like  that  of  the  Sen- 
ate, has  no  exact  modern  analogue.  It  contained 
the  same  elements  that  compose  the  modern 
political  speech,  combined  in  many  cases  with 
those  predominating  in  the  appeal  of  a  modern 
lawyer  to  a  jury  sitting  in  a  criminal  case.  It 
was,  of  necessity,  broader  and  freer  than  the  ora- 
tory of  the  Senate.  Yet  it  was  by  no  means  of 
inferior  rank.  The  greatest  orators  of  the  day  ad- 
dressed the  people,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  nation 
time  and  again  hung  in  the  balance,  depending 
for  their  rise  or  fall  on  the  weight  of  eloquence. 

It  was  in  the  field  of  political  oratory  that 
Cicero,  Rome's  greatest  public  speaker,  won  his 
most  distinguished  success.  Cicero  stands  un- 
questionably the  foremost  of  Roman  orators.  In 
the  long  record  of  a  thousand  years,  between  the 
founding  of  the  city  and  the  downfall  of  the 
Western  Empire,  Cicero  is  the  one  orator  whose 


)  \ 


,^i 


1 6  The  World's  Orators 

utterances  we  can  place  so  far  above  others  as  to 
enable  us  to  say  that  the  oratorical  development 
of  Rome  culminated  with  his  era.  Before  Cicero 
we  have  not  a  single  orator  of  whose  work  an 
entire  speech  has  been  preserved  in  authentic 
form.  After  Cicero,  with  few  exceptions,  we  have 
no  public  speakers  whose  oratory  was  worth  pre- 
servation as  such. 

Yet  the  list  of  Roman  orators  is  by  no  means  a 
short  one.  It  numbers  hundreds  of  names,  from 
that  of  Romulus  to  the  least  and  latest  Panegyrist 
under  the  Empire.  Yet  as  a  Canon  of  the  Orators 
of  Greece  has  been  established,  so  may  one  be  in- 
dicated for  Rome.  This  can  only  be  accomplished 
by  a  strict  policy  of  exclusion.  This  method  is 
the  more  difficult  because  we  cannot  judge  the 
Roman,  as  we  can  the  Grecian  orators,  by  exten- 
sive literary  remains.  We  must  establish  their 
right  to  a  place  in  the  Canon  by  the  statements 
made  concerning  them  and  the  fragrnents  at- 
tributed to  them  by  Roman  writers. 

In  the  chapters  devoted  to  early  Roman  history 
we  find  oratorical  prominence  given  to  many 
noble  Romans.  In  this  uncertain  history  we  read 
that  the  list  of  great  orators  includes  Q.  Junius 
Brutus,  the  expeller  of  the  Tarquins,  Menenius 
Agrippa,  by  whose  efforts  the  Plebeians  returned  to 
Rome,  Valerius  Potitius,  leader  of  the  movement 
against  the  Decemviri,  Appius  Claudius  C^cus,  the 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  1 7 

blind  Claudius,  who  opposed  the  treaty  with 
Pyrrhus,  C.  Fabricius,  the  envoy  sent  to  Rome 
by  the  prisoners  taken  by  Pyrrhus,  Tiberius  Cor- 
uncanus,  reported  by  the  Pontifical  Records  to 
be  an  orator  of  great  merit,  M.  Curius,  the  op- 
ponent of  Appius  Claudius,  C.  Flaminius,  killed 
at  Trasimenus,  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  the  Cunc- 
tator,  Q.  Metellus  the  consul,  and  a  host  of 
others  whose  names  are  associated  with  momen- 
tous periods  of  their  country's  history.  Many  of 
the  speeches  attributed  to  these  early  Romans  rank 
as  masterpieces  of  oratory,  but,  because  of  the 
haze  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  which  surrounds 
them,  not  one  of  these  orators  can  be  given  a 
place  in  the  Canon  of  Rome's  orators. 

In  the  construction  of  the  Canon  we  will  place 
as  its  earliest  name  that  of: 

M.  Cornelius  Cethegus,  consul  in  203  b.  c. 
His  eloquence  was  distinctly  persuasive,  and  his 
language,  chosen  with  regard  for  beauty  and  finish, 
won  for  him  the  epithets  of  "the  fine  flower  of  the 
people,"  the  orator  "  whose  mouth  drops  honeyed 
speech." 

Next  we  admit  M.  Porcius  Cato  (The  Censor) 
(b.  arm  23 1  B.C.).  An  orator  and  statesman  highly 
regarded  by  Cicero,  but  because  of  the  bitterness 
of  his  words  and  the  rudeness  of  his  manners  held 
by  his  contemporaries  in  light  esteem  as  an  orator. 
Cicero  had  abundant  opportunity  and  sufficient 


VOL,  II. — 2. 


1 8  The  World's  Orators 

material — over  one  hundred  and  hfty  orations — 
to  give  an  opinion  of  Cato's  abilities  which  is  en- 
titled to  great  respect.  We  can,  if  able  to  divest 
ourselves  of  the  intruding  belief  that  personal  pre- 
dilection warped  the  critical  judgment  of  Cicero, 
agree  with  that  author  in  estimating  Cato's  oratory 
as  dignified  in  commendation,  pitiless  in  sarcasm, 
pointed  in  phraseology,  and  subtle  in  argument. 

As  contemporaries  of  Cato  the  names  of  Aulus 
Postumius  Albinus  (consul  150  b.c),  an  orator  of 
force  and  a  man  of  sterling  virtue,  Spurius  Albinus 
(consul  147  or  146  B.C.),  Servius  Fulvius,  Sulpicius 
Callus,  and  P.  Cornelius  Scipio  force  themselves 
upon  our  notice.  Atliough  the  speech  of  Scipio 
delivered  upon  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Zama,  in  defence  of  his  conduct,  impeached  by  the 
consul  N^evius,  will  endure  as  an  example  of 
eloquence,  we  cannot  include  him  among  the 
orators  of  the  first  rank  as  we  must  his  son  Scipio 
Africanus  Minor  (/Emilianus)  (185-129  B.C.),  a 
vigorous,  clear  speaker  in  whom  the  influence  of 
Greek  culture  was  at  work.  We  next  include  C. 
LvtLius,  known  as  Sapiens  (consul  141  B.C.),  a 
popular  orator  of  great  ability.  His  eloquence, 
though  lacking  in  force,  was  in  its  way  remarkably 
effective.  ''The  charm  of  his  delivery,"  says 
Cicero,  "was  a  kind  of  religious  unction  than 
which  nothing  could  be  sweeter,  nothing  holier." 
We  have  a  characteristic  specimen  of  the  oratory 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  19 

of  Laslius  in  the  eulogy  upon  Scipio  Africanus 
Minor : 

''Needs  must  be  that  the  empire  of  the  whole 
earth  should  be  where  that  man  was  :  wherefore 
neither  such  great  thanks  can  be  paid  to  the  im- 
mortal gods  as  ought  to  be  paid,  that  he,  with  such  a 
mind  and  such  a  spirit,  was  born  in  this  city  out  of 
all  others,  nor  yet  such  moan  and  lament  be  made 
as  ought  to  be  made  since  he  died  of  that  disease, 
and  was  taken  away  in  that  same  season,  when  to 
you  and  all  others  who  would  have  this  common- 
wealth safe  there  was  most  need  of  his  life,  ye  men 
of  Rome." 

Servius  Sulpicius  Galba  (180-136  B.C.).  A 
man  of  the  blackest  character  and  of  the  most  de- 
praved tastes,  yet  withal  one  of  the  most  powerful 
orators  of  his  era.  A  man  capable  of  feeling  that 
which  he  spoke  and  convincing  his  audience  that 
he  did  feel  it.  He  was  the  first  Roman  public 
speaker  to  give  a  true  oratorical  form  to  eloquence, 
"  he  was  the  first  to  introduce  deliberate  digression 
for  the  sake  of  ornament,  the  first  to  delight  the 
mind,  to  move  it,  to  raise  his  subject,  the  first  to 
use  commonplaces  and  topics  of  pity." 

y^milius  Lepidus  Porcina  is  not  of  the  Canon, 
although  his  speeches  were  highly  commended  by 
Cicero.  He  deserves  especial  notice  because  he 
was  the  first  to  adopt  the  Greek  style  and  to  write 
an  oration  as  a  purely  literary  composition  in  which 


20  The  World's  Orators 

grace  and  beauty  were  the  first  aims  of  the 
speaker. 

In  the  period  directly  following  that  of  Lepidus, 
we  note  the  orators  Gains  Fannius  (consul  in  122 
B.  c), — best  known  by  the  speech  against  Gaius 
Gracchus,  attributed  to  him  as  well  as  to  C.  Per- 
sius  of  the  same  century, — Mucins  Sc^vola  the 
Augur,  and  Spurius  Mummius,  brother  of  Lucius 
Mummius  (consul  145  b.  c),  the  destroyer  of 
Corinth.  Of  these  brothers,  Cicero  says  :  ''  Lucius 
is  simple  and  antique,  Spurius  not  much  more 
ornamental  but  more  condensed  in  style,  for  he 
has  been  taught  the  doctrines  of  the  Stoics." 
All  these  men,  together  with  L.  Scribonius  Libo, 
tribune  of  the  people  and  accuser  of  Galba,  Q.  Ful- 
vius  Nobilior,  the  energetic  defender  of  the  same 
Galba  in  the  famous  trial  of  his  conduct  as  Praetor 
of  Lusitania,  have  left  their  impress  upon  the 
history  of  oratory,  but  none  of  them  can  rank  with 
Carbo,  the  next  orator  we  place  upon  the  Canon. 

Carbo  ( 1 64-1 19  B.C.)  was  of  as  base  character 
as  Galba,  and  like  Galba  was  an  orator  of  the  first 
rank  ;  Cicero  classes  him  as  the  greatest  of  his  day. 
He  was  essentially  a  popular  speaker.  He  was  the 
first  among  the  Romans  to  give  prominence  to  wit 
and  humor  as  an  element  of  the  public  speech. 
He  revelled  in  anecdote  and  jest,  was  a  fluent 
speaker  and  keen  thinker,  painstaking  in  prepara- 
tion and  artistic  in  delivery. 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  21 

The  next  names  of  commanding  eminence  are 
those  of  the  Gracchi,  Tiberius  and  Gains.  These 
great  orators  may  be  said  to  have  inaugurated  an 
era  in  their  art. 

Tiberius  Sempronius  Gracchus  (169-133)  was 
the  greatest  orator  Rome  had  yet  known.  His  fame 
was  shortly  to  be  surpassed  by  that  of  his  brother 
Gains,  yet  during  his  brief  activity  he  was  the 
prince  of  the  Forum.  The  eloquence  of  Tiberius 
was  based  upon  a  study  of  Greek  models,  though 
it  was  in  no  sense  a  copy  of  them.  His  speeches 
were  distinguished  for  their  high  moral  tone,  their 
earnestness,  temperance,  and  purity,  as  well  as  for 
their  classical  cast.  In  the  oratory  of  Tiberius,  and 
more  particularly  in  that  of  Gains,  is  to  be  noticed, 
for  the  first  time  in  Roman  history,  that  reserved 
force  which  is  the  crowning  attribute  of  oratory. 

Gaius  Gracchus  (i 54-121)  was  a  greater  orator 
than  Tiberius  and  "  for  most  people  the  history  of 
Latin  eloquence  began  with  Gaius  Gracchus."  If 
one  word  should  be  selected  to  characterize  his 
style  of  oratory,  that  word  would  be  intensity. 
Following  the  Gracchi,  the  greatest  speaker  of  the 
period  was  C.  Fimbria,  and  with  him  must  be 
mentioned  Drusus,  who  tried  to  carry  out  the  best 
elements  of  the  plans  of  the  Gracchi ;  P.  Scipio,  the 
wittiest  speaker  of  his  day  ;  Scaurus  (163-90  b.c), 
scholar,  philosopher,  and  historian,  whose  oratory 
was  remarkable  for  its  dignity  and  commanding 


2  2  The  World's  Orators 

■jfMi'''  tone;  Rutilius  Riifus  (158-78  B.C.),  and  Catukis 
(consul  102  B.C.),  all  aristocratic  and  senatorial 
orators  of  no  mean  force. 

''The  era  inaugurated  by  the  Gracchi  was  in  the 
highest  degree  favorable  to  eloquence.  The  dis- 
ordered state  of  the  Republic,  in  which  party  spirit 
had  banished  patriotism  and  was  itself  surrender- 
ing to  armed  violence,  called  for  a  style  of  speaking 
commensurate  with  the  turbulence  of  public  life. 
Never  in  the  world's  history  has  fierce  passion 
found  such  exponents  in  so  great  a  sphere.  It  is 
not  only  the  vehemence  of  their  language, —  that 
may  have  been  paralleled  elsewhere, —  it  is  the 
reality  of  it  that  impresses  us.  The  words  that 
denounced  an  enemy  were  not  idly  flung  into  the 
"^  Forum  ;  they  fell  among  those  who  had  the  power 
and  the  will  to  act  upon  them.  He  who  sent 
them  forth  must  expect  them  to  ruin  either  his 
antagonist  or  himself.  Each  man  chose  his  side, 
with  the  daggers  of  the  other  party  before  his  face. 
His  eloquence,  like  his  sword,  was  a  weapon  for 
life  and  death.  Only  in  the  French  Revolution 
have  oratory  and  assassination  thus  gone  hand  in 
hand.  Demosthenes  could  lash  the  Athenians  into 
enthusiasm  so  great  that  in  delight  at  his  elo- 
quence, they  forgot  his  advice.  '  I  want  you,'  he 
said,  'not  to  applaud  me,  but  to  march  against 
Philip.'  There  was  no  danger  of  the  Roman 
people  forgetting  action  in  applause.   They  rejoiced 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  23 

to  hear  the  orator,  but  it  was  that  he  might  < 
impel  them  to  tumultuous  activity  ;  he  was  caterer 
not  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  ears,  but  for  the 
employment  of  their  hands.  Thus  he  paid  a  heavy 
price  for  eminence.  Few  of  Rome's  greatest 
orators  died  in  their  beds.  Carbo  put  an  end  to 
his  own  life  ;  the  two  Gracchi,  Antonius,  Drusus, 
and  Cicero  himself  perished  by  the  assassin's 
hand  ;  Crassus  was  delivered  by  sudden  illness 
from  the  same  fate.  It  is  not  wonderful  if  with  ^' 
the  sword  hanging  over  their  heads,  Roman  orators 
attained  to  a  vehemence  beyond  example  in  other 
nations.  The  charm  that  danger  lends  to  daring 
is  nowhere  better  shown  than  in  the  case  of  Cicero. 
Timid  by  nature,  he  not  only  in  his  speeches 
hazarded  his  life,  but  even  when  the  dagger  of  An- 
tony was  waiting  for  him,  could  not  bring  himself 
to  flee.  With  the  civil  war,  however,  eloquence 
was  for  a  time  suppressed.  Neither  argument 
nor  menace  could  make  head  against  the  furious 
brutality  of  Marius  or  the  colder  butcheries  of 
Sulla.  But  the  intervening  period  produced  two 
of  the  greatest  speakers  Rome  ever  saw,  both  of 
whom  Cicero  places  at  the  very  summit  of  their 
art,  between  whom  he  professes  himself  unable  to 
decide,  and  about  whom  he  gives  the  most 
authentic  anc'  copious  account." 

"Antonius  (143-87  B.C.)  and  Crassus  (139-91 
B.C.)  were,"  says  Cicero,   "the  Demosthenes  and 


0 


24  The  World's  Orators 

Hyperides  of  Rome."  There  can  be  no  question 
of  their  place  in  the  Canon. 

Contemporaneous  with  these  orators  we  find  L. 
Marcius  Philippus,  a  free  and  eloquent  speaker,  T. 
Albucius  Barra  of  Asculum,  P.  Canutius  and  C. 
Julius  C^sar,  the  elder;  but  the  greatest  speakers 
of  this  period,  between  Crassus  and  Cicero,  were 
C.  Aurelius  Cotta,  P.  Sulpicius  Rufus — of  whom 
Cicero  said  that  he  was  the  ''grandest,"  the  "  most 
tragic,"  speaker  he  had  heard — and  Q.  Hortensius, 
the  undisputed  leader  of  the  courts,  the  rival  and 
friend  of  Cicero.  Of  these  three  men,  Cicero  says  : 
''Cotta  lacked  pomp,  Sulpicius  gentleness,  and 
Hortensius  gravity,"  but  all  three  were  orators  of 
high  rank,  and  the  last,  Q.  Hortensius,  is  to  be 
placed  in  the  Canon.  He  was  a  master  of  style, 
his  language  was  beautiful,  and  by  the  most  elab- 
orate preparation,  rehearsal,  and  practice  he  pro- 
duced, in  his  days  of  full  power,  an'  oration  of 
unrivalled  excellence. 

The  name  of  Hortensius  brings  us  to  Cicero,  the 
prince  of  Roman  orators.  To  avoid  duplicating  the 
introduction  to  the  selections  from  his  orations, 
we  pass  immediately  to  his  successors,  in  order  to 
complete  our  Canon. 

Great  as  was  Cicero,  he  left  no  permanent  im- 
press upon  the  oratory  of  Rome.  He  stood  unique 
among  her  speakers,  challenging  comparison,  and 
in  his  prime  finding  no  rivals. 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  25 

Cicero  left  no  disciples,  unless,  indeed,  we  may 
so  call  M.  Claudius  Marcellus  (consul  51  b.  c). 
Among  the  contemporaries  of  Cicero  were  many 
speakers  of  high  rank.  Of  these  Julius  CiEsar  was 
the  greatest.  He  was  a  consummate  orator.  His 
remarkable  ability,  as  such,  would  have  made  him 
Cicero's  rival  if  his  great  executive  force  had  not 
led  him  to  other  lines  of  action.  We  must  include 
C^sar  in  our  Canon,  although  we  reject  M.  Clau- 
dius, one  of  the  most  polished  and  graceful  speak- 
ers of  the  period.  We  have  next  to  note  three 
orators  who  formed  the  connecting  link  between 
Ciceronian  and  Augustan  eloquence, — C.  Curio,  M. 
Caslius  Rufus,  and  C.  Licinius  Calvus  (49  B.C.), 
all  remarkable  men.  Of  these  Calvus  is  the 
most  important ;  by  a  narrow  chance  he  failed  to 
gain  the  fame  that  Cicero  won.  Calvus  was  the 
leader  of  the  bitter  opposition  that  arose  against 
the  Ciceronian  type  of  oratory.  He  pleased  the 
public  which  Cicero  in  his  old  age  no  longer 
charmed,  and  he  must  be  added  to  the  list  of 
Rome's  greatest  orators,  together  with  M.  Brutus, 
nephew  of  Cato,  an  orator  of  great  power  and 
effectiveness.  C.  Asinius  Pollio  and  M.  Valerius 
Messala,  the  last  orators  of  the  old  school,  com- 
plete the  tale  of  the  great  orators  of  the  days  of 
Cicero.  The  tradition  that  Antonius  the  Triumvir 
was  an  orator  of  the  first  rank  lacks  authentic  evi- 
dence to  substantiate  it. 


26  The  World's  Orators 

We  now  arrive  at  a  period  in  the  history  of 
oratory  when  great  names  are  infrequent  and  the 
lesser  ones  unworthy  of  especial  notice.  Yet  in 
this  era  of  oratorical  decadence  we  meet  with  six 
men  whose  claims  to  inclusion  in  our  Canon  can- 
not be  seriously  disputed,  although  their  great 
abilities  in  other  fields  of  effort  have  made  them 
better  known  to  the  general  reader  of  modern 
times  as  historians  and  rhetoricians.  Students  will, 
however,  agree  that  Seneca,  Livy,  Sallust,  Pliny 
the  Younger,  Tacitus,  and  Quintilian  were  great 
orators.  We  know  that  these  men  were  trained 
in  the  art,  that  they  exercised  it  in  a  preeminently 
successful  manner.  If  their  speeches,  with  the 
exception  of  one  of  Pliny's,  have  not  been  pre- 
served, we  need  only  turn  to  their  other  writings 
to  find  abundant  examples  of  oratorical  master- 
pieces. In  Livy's  Roman  History  are  a  score  of 
such  examples,  which  are  attributed  by  the  author 
to  early  Roman  orators.  Though  the  orations  may 
embody  the  ideas  of  these  orators,  yet  the  con- 
struction and  language  are  Livy's,  and  even  the 
thought  itself  may  be  his.  As  with  this  author, 
so  is  it  with  the  others  whose  names  we  have 
added  to  the  Canon.  This  authorship,  together 
with  the  information  which  we  have  of  their  lives, 
warrants  us  in  placing  Livy  and  Sallust  among  the 
great  orators  of  Rome,  to  which  rank  Seneca,  Pliny 
the  Younger, Tacitus,  and  Quintilian  unquestionably 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  27 

belong.  We  may  in  recapitulation  present,  as  a 
tentative  Canon  of  Roman  orators,  the  following 
names  : 

Cethegus  Hortensius 

Cato  (the  elder)  Cicero 

SCIPIO  (y^MILIANUS)  JULIUS  C^SAR 

Ly€LIUS  Calvus 

Galea  Brutus 

Carbo  Seneca 

Gracchus,  T.  Livy 

Gracchus,  G.  Sallust 
Antonius,  M.  (the  orator)    Pliny  the  Younger 

Crassus  Tacitus 

QyiNTILIAN 

The  fifth  type  of  Roman  oratory,  that  of  the 
Law  Courts,  began  to  grow  in  importance  in  the 
third  century  before  Christ.  It  continued  to  en- 
gage the  attention  of  the  orators  throughout  the 
Republic,  and  gained  in  power  and  influence  with 
the  Imperial  era.  It  survived  the  Christianizing 
of  the  Empire.  Roman  legal  or  judicial  oratory 
is  by  no  means  its  highest  type.  Yet  no  other 
form,  except  the  oratory  of  the  Forum,  excelled  it 
in  persuasive  and  emotional  characteristics.  That 
such  oratory  was  eloquent  cannot  be  denied,  but 
in  it  the  absence  of  ethical  and  even  truthful 
standards  was  conspicuous.  Manipulation  of  evi- 
dence, plays  upon  emotion,  and  passionate  appeals 
won  success  in  the  courts.  The  successful  judi- 
cial orators  were  powerful  speakers,  but  whatever 
their  private  probity  might  have  been,  they  did 


\/ 


28  The  World's  Orators 

not  scruple  to  use  the  most  reprehensible  methods 
to  gain  their  cases.  Form  and  precedent  choked 
oratory  in  the  last  days  of  Rome,  and  the  elo- 
quence of  the  courts  ceased,  while  dry  formalism, 
with  no  touch  of  greater  justice,  prevailed. 

As  Democratic  liberty  gave  place  to  Imperial 
control,  the  practice  of  this  type  of  oratory  de- 
clined, until  it  might  well  be  said  that  political 
oratory  of  the  type  of  the  Republic  was  dead. 
But  its  place  was  taken  by  a  new  school,  by 
another  type  of  public  speaking,  that  of  the 
Rhetoricians  or  Declaimers.  This  sixth  form  of 
Roman  oratory  was  a  natural  consequence,  since 
''speech-making  and  speech-hearing  were  deeply 
rooted  in  the  Roman  nature.  Hence,  when  the 
Forum  became  dull,  speech-making  retired  to  the 
school-room  to  continue  there  a  shadowy  life; 
rhetoric  supplanted  oratory,  rhetoricians  took  the 
place  of  orators,  and  speaking  was  superseded  by 
declaiming."  The  first  school  of  Roman  rhetoric 
was  opened  by  L  Plotius  Gallus,  about  90  B.C., 
and  this  school  and  its  successors  superseded  the 
private  instruction  in  the  art  of  public  speaking 
which  had  existed  for  many  years. 

Declamation  became  the  fashion,  and  the  rhe- 
toricians were  the  idols  of  the  hour.  The  orators 
became  declaimers,  and  in  the  reign  of  Augustus 
we  meet  the  eminent  names  of  Messalinus  and 
Haterius,  Porcius  Latro,  Fuscus  Arellius,  Albucius 


The  Oratory  of  Ancient  Rome  29 

Selus,  and  Rutulus  Lupus.  The  greatest  of  these 
declaimers  was  Latro,  but  even  his  rank  is  below 
that  of  AnUcTus  Seneca.  The  declamations  of  this 
period  are  of  two  principal  forms :  The  Contro- 
versia,  a  discussion  of  legal  questions,  and  the 
Suasoria,  a  debate  upon  imaginary  themes.  These 
two  types  are,  perhaps,  best  preserved  in  the 
works  of  Seneca  and  Qiiintilian. 

The  Panegyric  was  the  direct  result  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  rhetoricians.  It  was  the  crowning 
effort  of  their  school.  This  type  of  oratory  reached 
its  greatest  development  under  the  later  C^sars. 
Its  period  of  degeneracy  was  soon  reached,  and 
panegyrists  devoted  their  talents  to  the  praise  of 
the  most  trivial  and  even  debasing  subjects  for 
the  purpose  of  gain.  In  all  this  prostitution  of 
eloquence,  a  certain  grace,  beauty,  and  wealth 
of  thought  remained  to  charm  the  great  crowds 
which  thronged  to  listen  with  eager  attention  to 
the  orators.  Of  those  panegyrics  that  have  been 
preserved  to  us,  that  of  Pliny  the  Younger  (100 
A.D.)  on  Trajan  is  esteemed  the  best,  but  we  have 
other  examples  of  this  style  of  oratory  that  must 
be  noted.  The  first  important  panegyric  was  that 
of  Cicero  upon  Pompey  ;  this  forms  a  part  of  the 
oration  upon  the  Manilian  Law.  The  next  was 
upon  Marcellus,  and  was  the  work  of  CTsar. 
But  these  panegyrics  antedated  the  Empire,  dur- 
ing the  existence  of  which  flourished  Pliny  the 


/ 


30  The  World's  Orators 

Younger,  Claudius  Mamertinus,  with  his  orations 
on  Diocletian  (289  a.  d.),  and  on  Maximianus 
(292  A.D.) ;  Eunimius,  with  two  panegyrics  on 
Constantine  Chlorus  (296  a.d.),  and  those  upon 
Constantine  (310,  311-313  a.d.);  Nazarius,  with 
one  upon  the  same  emperor  (321  a.d.);  Mamer- 
tinus, who  delivered  an  oration  upon  Julian  (362 
A.D.),  as  did  Ausonius  on  Gratian  (379  a.d.).  The 
last  of  these  orators  is  Pacatus,  and  his  oration 
upon  Theodosius  (389  a.d.)  is  the  latest  of  the 
major  panegyrics  that  have  been  preserved  to  us. 

With  the  passing  of  the  panegyrists  we  enter 
upon  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  eloquence,  an 
era  lasting  ten  centuries,  in  which  the  orators  of 
the  Christian  Church  stood  unrivalled. 


C.  SALLUSTIUS  CRISPUS 

C.  Sallustius  Crispus,  commonly  known  as  Sallust,  was 
born  in  the  year  84  b.c.  at  Amiternum.  His  family  was  ple- 
beian. Little  is  known  of  his  early  life.  He  was  prominent 
in  political  affairs,  and  during  the  civil  war  attached  himself 
to  the  party  of  Caesar,  whose  warm  friend  he  was.  Despite 
his  plebeian  origin  he  rose  steadily  through  the  various  politi- 
cal official  grades,  was  quaestor,  tribune  of  the  Plebeians,  and 
a  member  of  the  Senate,  from  which  body  he  was  expelled  in 
50  B.C.,  because,  as  was  alleged,  the  viciousness  of  his  life  dis- 
graced the  senatorial  body.  In  all  probability,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  truth  of  the  charge,  he  was  degraded  because  the 
dominant  party  was  opposed  to  him  as  a  partisan  of  Caesar. 
In  47  B.C.  Caesar  rewarded  him  for  his  zeal  and  fidelity  by  the 
praetorship  of  Numidia  and  the  restoration  of  his  senatorial 
rank.  He  returned  from  Numidia  in  45  e.c,  with  an  enormous 
fortune,  and  retired  from  public  activity,  spending  the  balance 
of  his  life  in  pleasure  and  literary  employment.  It  was  in  this 
period  that  his  great  works  were  produced.  An  examination 
of  his  political  activity  shows  that  from  the  moment  of  his 
entrance  into  public  life  he  was  continually  addressing  the 
Romans,  in  the  Law  Courts,  in  the  Forum,  and  in  the  Senate. 
His  talents  as  an  orator  won  him  the  favor  of  the  leaders  and 
the  support  of  the  people,  and  the  speeches  in  his  History  are 
the  outgrowth  of  his  oratorical  training.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
fifty-two. 

His  style  was  cultured,  classic,  and  a  trifle  archaic.  It  is 
supposed  he  sought  to  acquire  the  style  of  Thucydides.  With 
all  his  faults,  the  charm  of  Sallust's  writings  has  won  him  the 
distinction  of  disputing  with  Livy  the  title  of  Rome's  greatest 
historian. 

The  great  works  of  this  prince  of  Roman  historians  are 
Jugurtha,   the    Conspiracy  of  Catiline  and   the   History  of 

31 


32  The  World's  Orators 

Rome ;  by  them  his  fame  was  made,  and  through  them  it 
will  remain  secure.  In  these  works  we  find  masterpieces 
of  oratory  ascribed  to  early  Romans,  but  in  many  cases  such 
ascription  is  manifestly  false.  We  know  that  they  are  from 
the  pen  of  Sallust. 

One  of  the  best  text  of  the  works  of  Sallust  is  that  published 
in  the  Teubner  series.     Several  translations  have  been  made. 

For  bibliographies  consult  the  works  of  Teuffel  and 
Engleman. 


TO  THE  CONSPIRATORS 


L.  Sergius  Catiline. 

This  speech  is  put  in  the  mouth  of  Catiline  by  Sallust,  but  is  essentially  the 
work  of  the  historian. 


IF  your  courage  and  fidelity  had  not  been  suf- 
ficiently proved  by  me,  this  favorable  oppor- 
tunity would  have  occurred  to  no  purpose ; 
mighty  hopes,  absolute  power,  would  in  vain  be 
within  our  grasp ;  nor  should  I,  depending  on 
irresolution  or  fickle-mindedness,  pursue  contin- 
gencies instead  of  certainties.  But  as  1  have,  on 
many  remarkable  occasions,  experienced  your 
bravery  and  attachment  to  me,  I  have  ventured 
to  engage  in  a  most  important  and  glorious  enter- 
prise. 1  am  aware,  too,  that  whatever  advantages 
or  evils  affect  you,  the  same  affect  me  ;  and  to 
have  the  same  desires  and  the  same  aversions 
is  assuredly  a  firm  bond  of  friendship. 

What  I  have  been  meditating,  you  have  already 
separately  heard.  But  my  ardor  for  action  is  daily 
more  and  more  excited,  when  1  consider  what  our 

VOL.  U.— 3 

33 


34  Catiline 

future  condition  of  life  must  be,  unless  we  our- 
selves assert  our  claims  to  liberty.  For  since  the 
government  has  fallen  under  the  power  and  juris- 
diction of  a  few  men,  kings  and  princes  have  con- 
stantly been  their  tributaries ;  nations  and  States 
have  paid  them  taxes  ;  but  all  the  rest  of  us,  how- 
ever brave  or  worthy,  whether  noble  or  plebeian, 
have  been  regarded  as  a  mere  mob,  without  inter- 
est or  authority,  and  subject  to  those  to  whom, 
if  the  State  were  in  a  sound  condition,  we  should 
be  a  terror.  Hence,  all  influence,  power,  honor, 
and  wealth,  are  in  their  hands,  or  where  they 
dispose  of  them  ;  to  us  they  have  left  only  insults, 
dangers,  persecutions.  To  such  indignities,  O 
bravest  of  men,  how  long  will  you  submit  ?  Is  it 
not  better  to  die  in  a  glorious  attempt  than,  after 
having  been  the  sport  of  other  men's  insolence,  to 
resign  with  ignominy  a  wretched  and  degraded 
existence  ? 

But  success  (I  call  gods  and  men  to  witness  !)  is 
in  our  own  hands.  We  are  in  the  flush  of  youth  ; 
our  spirit  is  unbroken  :  among  our  oppressors,  on 
the  contrary,  through  age  and  wealth,  a  general 
debility  has  been  produced.  We  have,  therefore, 
only  to  make  a  beginning ;  the  course  of  events 
will  accomplish  the  rest. 

Who  in  the  world,  indeed,  that  has  the  feelings 
of  a  man,  can  endure  that  these  men  should  have 
a  superfluity  of  riches  to  squander  in  bridging 


To  the  Conspirators  35 

seas  and  levelling  mountains,  and  that  means 
should  be  wanting  to  us  to  procure  even  the 
necessaries  of  life  ;  that  they  should  join  together 
two  houses  or  more,  and  that  we  should  not  have 
a  hearth  to  call  our  own  ?  They,  though  they 
purchase  pictures,  statues,  and  embossed  plate  ; 
though  they  pull  down  new  buildings  and  erect 
others,  and  lavish  and  abuse  their  wealth  in  every 
possible  way,  yet  cannot,  with  the  utmost  efforts 
of  caprice,  exhaust  it.  But  for  us  there  is  poverty 
at  home,  debts  abroad  ;  our  present  circumstances 
are  bad,  our  prospects  much  worse ;  and  what, 
in  a  word,  is  left  to  us  but  a  miserable  existence  ? 
Will  you  not,  then,  awake  to  action  ?  Behold, 
that  liberty,  that  liberty  for  which  you  have  so  often 
wished,  with  wealth,  honor,  and  glory,  is  set  be- 
fore your  eyes.  All  these  prizes  Fortune  offers  to 
the  victorious.  Let  the  enterprise  itself,  then,  let 
the  opportunity,  let  your  poverty,  your  dangers, 
and  the  glorious  spoils  of  war,  animate  you  far 
more  than  my  words.  Use  me  either  as  your 
leader  or  as  your  fellow-soldier ;  neither  my  heart 
nor  my  hand  shall  be  wanting  to  you.  These 
objects  I  hope  to  effect,  in  union  with  you,  in  the 
character  of  consul ;  unless,  indeed,  my  expecta- 
tion deceives  me,  and  you  prefer  to  be  slaves  rather 
than  masters. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


TO    HIS   SOLDIERS 


L.  Sergiiis  Catiline. 

This  speech  is  attributed  by  Sallust  to  Catiline.  It  is  not  authentic,  yet 
presents  a  good  illustration  of  the  speeches  which  Roman  generals  often 
addressed  to  their  troops.  Sallust  says  :  "  When  Catiline  saw  that  he  was 
surrounded  by  mountains  and  by  hostile  forces,  that  his  schemes  in  the  city  had 
been  unsuccessful,  and  that  there  was  no  hope  either  of  escape  or  of  succor, 
tiiinking  it  best,  in  such  circumstances,  to  try  the  fortune  of  a  battle,  he  resolved 
upon  engaging,  as  speedily  as  possible,  with  Antonius.  Having,  therefore, 
assembled  his  troops,  he  addressed  them  in  the  following  words  :  " 

I  AM  well  aware,  soldiers,  that  words  cannot  in- 
spire courage  ;  that  a  spiritless  army  cannot  be 
rendered  active,  or  a  timid  army  valiant,  by  the 
speech  of  its  commander.  Whatever  courage  is  in 
the  heart  of  a  man,  whether  from  nature  or  from 
habit,  so  much  will  be  shown  by  him  in  the  field  ; 
and  on  him  whom  neither  glory  nor  danger  can 
move,  exhortation  is  bestowed  in  vain  ;  for  the 
terror  in  his  breast  stops  his  ears. 

I  have  called  you  together,  however,  to  give 
you  a  few  instructions,  and  to  explain  to  you,  at 
the  same  time,  my  reasons  for  the  course  which  I 
have  adopted.    You  all  know,  soldiers,  how  severe 

a  penalty  the  inactivity  and  cowardice  of  Lentulus 

36 


To  his  Soldiers  37 

has  brought  upon  himself  and  us  ;  and  how,  while 
waiting  for  reinforcements  from  the  city,  I  was  un- 
able to  march  into  Gaul.  In  what  situation  our 
affairs  now  are,  you  all  understand  as  well  as  1 
myself.  Two  armies  of  the  enemy,  one  on  the 
side  of  Rome,  and  the  other  on  that  of  Gaul, 
oppose  our  progress  ;  while  the  want  of  corn  and 
of  other  necessaries  prevents  us  from  remaining  in 
our  present  position,  however  strongly  we  may 
desire  to  do  so.  Whithersoever  we  would  go,  we 
must  open  a  passage  with  our  swords.  I  conjure 
you,  therefore,  to  maintain  a  brave  and  resolute 
spirit ;  and  to  remember,  when  you  advance  to 
battle,  that  on  your  own  right  hands  depend  riches, 
honor,  and  glory,  with  the  enjoyment  of  your 
liberty  and  of  your  country.  If  we  conquer,  all 
will  be  safe  ;  we  shall  have  provisions  in  abundance, 
and  the  colonies  and  corporate  towns  will  open 
their  gates  to  us.  But  if  we  lose  the  victory 
through  want  of  courage,  those  same  places  will 
turn  against  us  ;  for  neither  place  nor  friend  will 
protect  him  whom  his  arms  have  not  protected. 
Furthermore,  soldiers,  the  exigency  that  presses 
upon  us  does  not  press  upon  our  adversaries  ;  we 
fight  for  our  country,  for  our  liberty,  for  our  life ; 
they  contend  for  that  which  matters  to  them  but 
little,  the  power  of  a  small  party.  Attack  them, 
therefore,  with  so  much  the  greater  confidence,  and 
call  to  mind  your  achievements  of  old. 


38  Catiline 

We  might,  with  the  utmost  ignominy,  have 
passed  the  rest  of  our  days  in  exile.  Some  of  you, 
after  losing  your  property,  might  have  waited  at 
Rome  for  assistance  from  others.  But  because  such 
a  life  was  disgusting  and  unendurable  to  men  of 
spirit,  you  resolved  upon  your  present  course.  If 
you  wish  to  accomplish  your  ends,  you  must  exert 
all  your  resolution,  for  none  but  conquerors  have 
ever  exchanged  war  for  peace.  To  hope  for  safety 
in  flight,  when  you  have  turned  away  from  the 
enemy  the  arms  with  which  you  should  defend 
the  body,  is  sheer  madness.  In  battle,  those  who 
are  most  afraid  are  always  in  most  danger ;  while 
courage  is  a  rampart. 

When  1  look  upon  you,  soldiers,  and  consider 
your  past  exploits,  a  strong  hope  of  victory  ani- 
mates me.  Your  spirit,  your  age,  your  valor,  give 
me  confidence,  to  say  nothing  of  necessity,  which 
makes  even  cowards  brave.  Our  confined  situation 
is  sufficient  to  prevent  the  numbers  of  the  enemy 
from  surrounding  us.  But  should  Fortune  be  un- 
just to  your  valor,  take  care  not  to  lose  your  lives 
unavenged  ;  take  care  not  to  be  taken  and 
butchered  like  cattle,  but  rather,  fighting  like  men, 
leave  to  your  enemies  a  bloody  and  mournful 
victory. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


ON  PUNISHING  THE  CONSPIRATORS 


Ccesar, 

This  oration,  delivered  against  Catiline  and  the  conspirators,  is  considered  by 
some  scholars  to  be  preserved  essentially  as  it  was  delivered  by  Caesar.  If  so,  it 
is  the  only  speech  of  Caesar's  which  is  extant.  Without  entering  into  a  discus- 
sion of  the  authenticity  of  the  oration,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  no  valid 
reason  why  Sallust  should  not  have  been  able  to  preserve  the  exact  words  of 
Caesar.  If  the  speech  had  been  read  from  a  manuscript,  Sallust's  intimacy  with 
Caesar  would  have  procured  its  use.  If  spoken  without  notes,  the  exact  words 
could  have  been  secured  by  the  system  of  short-hand  in  use  at  Rome.  Then, 
too,  in  care  and  painstaking  accuracy  Sallust  was  in  advance  of  his  age.  Of 
this  speech  we  can  only  say,  quoting  Sallust,  "Caesar,  when  it  came  to  his 
turn,  was  asked  his  opinion  by  the  consul,  and  spoke  to  the  following  effect  :  " 

IT  becomes  all  men,  Conscript  Fathers,  who 
deliberate  on  dubious  matters,  to  be  influenced 
neither  by  hatred,  affection,  anger,  nor  pity.  The 
mind,  when  such  feelings  obstruct  its  view,  cannot 
easily  see  what  is  right ;  nor  has  any  human  being 
ever  consulted,  at  the  same  moment,  both  his 
passions  and  his  interest.  When  the  mind  is  free 
to  exert  itself,  its  reasoning  is  sound  ;  but  passion, 
if  it  gain  possession  of  it,  becomes  its  tyrant,  and 
reason  is  powerless. 

I    could    easily    mention.    Conscript    Fathers, 
numerous  examples  of  kings  and  nations  who, 

39 


40  Caesar 

swayed  by  resentment  or  compassion,  have 
adopted  injudicious  courses  of  conduct ;  but  I  had 
rather  speak  of  those  instances  in  which  our  an- 
cestors, in  opposition  to  the  impulse  of  passion, 
acted  with  wisdom  and  sound  policy. 

In  the  Macedonian  war,  which  we  carried  on 
against  King  Perses,  the  great  and  powerful  state 
of  Rhodes,  which  had  risen  by  the  aid  of  the 
Roman  people,  was  faithless  and  hostile  to  us ; 
yet,  when  the  war  was  ended  and  the  conduct  of 
the  Rhodians  was  taken  into  consideration,  our 
forefathers  left  them  unmolested,  lest  any  should 
say  that  war  was  made  upon  them  in  order  to  seize 
their  wealth,  rather  than  to  punish  their  faithless- 
ness. Throughout  the  Punic  wars,  too,  though 
the  Carthaginians,  both  during  peace  and  in  suspen- 
sions of  arms,  were  guilty  of  many  acts  of  injustice, 
yet  our  ancestors  never  took  occasion  to  retaliate, 
but  considered  what  was  worthy  of  themselves, 
rather  than  what  might  justly  be  inflicted  on  their 
enemies. 

You  should  observe  similar  caution.  Conscript 
Fathers,  that  the  guilt  of  Lentulus  and  the  other 
conspirators  may  not  have  greater  weight  with 
you  than  your  own  dignity,  and  that  you  may  not 
regard  your  indignation  more  than  your  character. 
If,  indeed,  a  punishment  adequate  to  their  crimes 
be  discovered,  I  consent  to  extraordinary  measures  ; 
but  if  the  enormity  of  their  crimes  exceeds  whatever 


On  Punishing  the  Conspirators  41 

can  be  devised,  I  think  that  we  should  inflict  only 
such  penalties  as  the  laws  have  provided. 

Most  of  those  who  have  given  their  opinions 
before  me  have  deplored  in  studied  and  impressive 
language  the  sad  fate  that  threatens  the  Republic  ; 
they  have  recounted  the  barbarities  of  war  and 
the  afflictions  that  would  fall  on  the  vanquished  ; 
they  have  told  us  that  maidens  would  be  dis- 
honored and  youths  abused  ;  that  children  would 
be  torn  from  the  embraces  of  their  parents ;  that 
matrons  would  be  subjected  to  the  passions  of  the 
conquerors ;  that  temples  and  dwelling-houses 
would  be  plundered ;  that  massacres  and  fires 
would  follow  ;  and  that  every  place  would  be  filled 
with  arms,  corpses,  blood,  and  lamentation.  But 
to  what  end,  in  the  name  of  the  eternal  gods  !  was 
such  eloquence  directed  ?  Was  it  intended  to  ren- 
der you  indignant  with  the  conspiracy  ?  A  speech, 
doubtless,  will  inflame  him  whom  so  frightful  and 
monstrous  a  reality  has  not  provoked  !  Far  from 
it ;  for  to  no  man  does  evil  directed  against  himself 
appear  a  light  matter ;  many,  on  the  contrary,  have 
felt  it  more  seriously  than  was  right. 

But  to  different  persons,  Conscript  Fathers, 
different  degrees  of  license  are  allowed.  If  those 
who  pass  a  life  sunk  in  obscurity  commit  any  error 
through  excessive  anger,  few  become  aware  of  it, 
for  their  fame  is  as  limited  as  their  fortune  ;  but 
the  whole  world  knows  the  acts  of  those  who  live 


42  Caesar 

invested  with  extensive  power  and  in  an  exalted 
station.  Tlius  in  the  highest  positions  there  is  least 
liberty  of  action  ;  and  it  becomes  us  to  indulge 
neither  partiality  nor  aversion,  and  least  of  all 
animosity  ;  for  what  in  others  is  called  resentment 
is  in  the  powerful  termed  violence  and  cruelty. 

1  am  indeed  of  the  opinion,  Conscript  Fathers, 
that  the  utmost  degree  of  torture  is  inadequate  to 
punish  their  crime  ;  but  the  generality  of  mankind 
dwell  on  that  which  happens  last,  and  in  the  case 
of  malefactors  forget  their  guilt  and  talk  only  of 
their  punishment,  should  that  punishment  have 
been  inordinately  severe.  1  feel  assured,  too,  that 
Decimus  Silanus,  a  man  of  spirit  and  resolution, 
made  the  suggestions  which  he  offered  from  zeal 
for  the  State,  and  that  he  had  no  thought  of  favor 
or  enmity  in  so  important  a  matter ;  such  1  know 
to  be  his  character,  and  such  his  discretion.  Yet 
his  proposal  appears  to  me,  I  will  not  say  cruel  (for 
what  can  be  cruel  that  is  directed  against  such 
characters  ?)  but  foreign  to  our  policy.  For  assur- 
edly, Silanus,  either  your  fears  or  their  treasons 
must  have  induced  you,  a  consul  elect,  to  propose 
this  new  kind  of  punishment.  Of  fear  it  is  un- 
necessary to  speak  when,  by  the  prompt  activity  of 
that  distinguished  man,  our  consul,  such  numerous 
forces  are  under  arms  ;  and  of  the  punishment,  we 
may  say,  what  is  indeed  the  truth,  that  in  trouble 
and  distress  death  is  a  relief  from  suffering,  and 


Opx  Punishing  the  Conspirators  43 

not  a  torment ;  that  it  puts  an  end  to  all  human 
woes  ;  and  that,  beyond  it,  there  is  no  place  either 
for  sorrow  or  joy. 

But  why,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods, 
did  you  not  add  to  your  proposal,  Silanus,  that, 
before  they  were  put  to  death,  they  should  be 
punished  with  the  scourge  ?  Was  it  because  the 
Porcian  law  forbids  it  ?  But  other  laws  forbid  con- 
demned citizens  to  be  deprived  of  life,  and  allow 
them  to  go  into  exile.  Or  was  it  because  scourging 
is  a  severer  penalty  than  death  ?  Yet  what  can  be 
too  severe,  or  too  harsh,  towards  men  convicted  of 
such  an  offence  ?  But  if  scourging  be  a  milder 
punishment  than  death,  how  is  it  consistent  to  ob- 
serve the  law  as  to  the  smaller  point,  when  you 
disregard  it  as  to  the  greater  ? 

But  who,  it  may  be  asked,  will  blame  any  sever- 
ity that  shall  be  decreed  against  these  parricides 
of  their  country  ?  I  answer  that  time,  the  course 
of  events,  and  fortune,  whose  caprice  governs 
nations,  may  blame  it.  Whatever  shall  fall  on  the 
traitors,  will  fall  on  them  justly  ;  but  it  is  for  you, 
Conscript  Fathers,  to  consider  well  what  you  re- 
solve to  inflict  on  others.  All  precedents  productive 
of  evil  effects  have  had  their  origin  in  what  was 
good ;  but  when  a  government  passes  into  the 
hands  of  the  ignorant  or  unprincipled,  any  new  ex- 
ample of  severity,  inflicted  on  deserving  and 
suitable  objects,  is  extended  to  those  who  are  not 


44  Caesar 

properly  deserving  of  it.  The  Lacedaemonians, 
when  they  had  conquered  the  Athenians,  appointed 
thirty  men  to  govern  their  State.  These  thirty  be- 
gan their  administration  by  putting  to  death,  even 
without  a  trial,  all  who  were  notoriously  wicked 
or  publicly  detestable  ;  acts  at  which  the  people 
rejoiced,  and  extolled  their  justice.  But  afterwards, 
when  their  lawless  power  gradually  increased, 
they  proceeded  at  their  pleasure  to  kill  the  good 
and  bad  indiscriminately  and  to  strike  terror  into 
all;  and  thus  the  State,  overpowered  and  enslaved, 
paid  a  heavy  penalty  for  its  imprudent  exultation. 
Within  our  own  memory,  too,  when  the 
victorious  Sulla  ordered  Damasippus,  and  others 
of  similar  character,  who  had  risen  by  distressing 
their  country,  to  be  put  to  death,  who  did  not 
commend  the  proceeding  ?  All  exclaimed  that 
wicked  and  factious  men,  who  had  troubled  the 
State  with  their  seditious  practices,  had  justly  for- 
feited their  lives.  Yet  this  proceeding  was  the 
commencement  of  great  bloodshed.  For  when- 
ever anv  one  coveted  the  mansion  or  villa,  or  even 
the  plate  or  apparel  of  another,  he  exerted  his 
influence  to  have  him  numbered  among  the  pro- 
scribed. Thus  they  to  whom  the  death  of  Da- 
masippus had  been  a  subject  of  joy  were  soon 
after  dragged  to  death  themselves  ;  nor  was  there 
any  cessation  of  slaughter  until  Sulla  had  glutted 
all  his  partisans  with  riches. 


On  Punishing  the  Conspirators  45 

Such  excesses,  indeed,  I  do  not  fear  from 
Marcus  Tullius,  or  in  these  times.  But  in  a  large 
State  there  arise  many  men  of  various  dispositions. 
At  some  other  period,  and  under  another  consul, 
who,  like  the  present,  may  have  an  army  at  his 
command,  some  false  accusation  may  be  credited 
as  true  ;  and  when,  with  our  example  for  a  prece- 
dent, the  consul  shall  have  drawn  the  sword  on 
the  authority  of  the  Senate,  who  shall  stay  its 
progress  or  temper  its  fury  ? 

Our  ancestors,  Conscript  Fathers,  were  never 
deficient  in  conduct  or  courage  ;  nor  did  pride 
prevent  them  from  imitating  the  customs  of  other 
nations,  if  these  appeared  deserving  of  regard. 
Their  armor  and  weapons  of  war  they  borrowed 
from  the  Samnites  ;  their  insignia  of  authority,  for 
the  most  part,  from  the  Etrurians ;  and,  in  short, 
whatever  appeared  eligible  to  them,  whether 
among  allies  or  among  enemies,  they  adopted  at 
home  with  the  greatest  readiness,  being  more  in- 
clined to  emulate  merit  than  to  be  jealous  of  it. 
But  at  the  same  time,  adopting  a  practice  from 
Greece,  they  punished  their  citizens  with  the 
scourge,  and  inflicted  capital  punishment  on  such 
as  were  condemned.  When  the  Republic,  how- 
ever, became  powerful,  and  faction  grew  strong 
because  of  the  vast  number  of  citizens,  men  began 
to  involve  the  innocent  in  condemnation,  and  other 
like  abuses  were  practised ;  and  it  was  then  that 


46  Caesar 

the  Porcian  and  other  laws  were  provided,  by  which 
condemned  citizens  were  allowed  to  go  into  exile. 
This  lenity  of  our  ancestors,  Conscript  Fathers,  1 
regard  as  a  very  strong  reason  that  we  should  not 
adopt  any  new  measures  of  severity.  For  assuredly 
there  was  greater  merit  and  wisdom  in  those,  who 
raised  so  mighty  an  empire  from  humble  means, 
than  in  us,  who  can  scarcely  preserve  what  they  so 
honorably  acquired.  Am  I  of  the  opinion,  then, 
you  will  ask,  that  the  conspirators  should  be  set 
free,  and  that  the  army  of  Catiline  should  thus  be 
increased  ?  Far  from  it ;  my  recommendation  is, 
that  their  property  be  confiscated,  and  that  they 
themselves  be  kept  in  custody  in  such  of  the  muni- 
cipal towns  as  are  best  able  to  bear  the  expense ; 
that  no  one  hereafter  bring  their  case  before  the 
Senate  or  speak  of  it  to  the  people  ;  and  that  the 
Senate  now  give  their  judgment  that  he  who  shall 
act  contrary  to  this,  will  act  against  the  Republic 
and  the  general  safety. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  THE  CONSPIRATORS 


Marcus  Porcius  Cato 

The  same  question  of  authenticity  mentioned  in  the  note  to  the  oration  of 
Caesar  On  Punishing  the  Conspirators  applies  to  the  speech  of  Cato.  Sallust 
says  :  "  When  Caesar  had  ended  his  speech,  the  rest  briefly  expressed  iheir  assent, 
some  to  one  speaker  and  some  to  another,  in  support  of  their  different  proposals  ; 
but  Marcus  Porcius  Cato,  having  been  asked  his  opinion,  made  a  speech  to  the 
following  purport "  : 

MY  feelings,  Conscript  Fathers,  are  altogether 
different  when  1  contemplate  our  circum- 
stances and  dangers,  and  when  I  revolve  in  my 
mind  the  sentiments  of  some  who  have  spoken 
before  me.  Those  speakers,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
have  considered  only  how  to  punish  the  traitors 
who  have  raised  war  against  their  country,  their 
parents,  their  altars,  and  their  homes ;  but  the 
state  of  affairs  warns  us  rather  to  secure  ourselves 
against  them  than  to  take  counsel  as  to  what 
sentence  we  should  pass  upon  them.  Other  crimes 
you  may  punish  after  they  have  been  committed  ; 
but  with  this,  unless  you  prevent  its  commission, 
you  will,  when  it  has  once  taken  effect,  appeal  to 
justice  in  vain.  When  the  city  is  taken,  no  power 
is  left  to  the  vanquished. 

47 


48  Marcus  Porcius  Cato 

But  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods,  I  call 
upon  you  who  have  always  valued  your  mansions 
and  villas,  your  statues  and  pictures,  at  a  higher 
price  than  the  welfare  of  your  country,  if  you 
wish  to  preserve  those  possessions,  whatever  kind 
they  are,  to  which  you  are  attached  ;  if  you  wish 
to  secure  quiet  for  the  enjoyment  of  your  pleasures, 
arouse  yourselves,  and  act  in  defence  of  your 
country.  We  are  not  debating  on  the  revenues, 
or  on  injuries  done  to  our  allies;  our  liberty  and 
our  lives  are  at  stake. 

Often,  Conscript  Fathers,  have  I  spoken  at  great 
length  in  this  assembly  ;  often  have  I  complained 
of  the  luxury  and  avarice  of  our  citizens,  and,  by 
that  very  means,  have  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
many.  1,  who  never  excused  to  myself,  or  to  my 
own  conscience,  the  commission  of  any  fault,  could 
not  easily  pardon  the  misconduct  or  condone  the 
licentiousness  of  others.  But  though  you  little 
regarded  my  remonstrances,  yet  the  Republic 
remained  secure  ;  its  own  strength  was  proof 
against  your  remissness.  The  question,  however, 
at  present  under  discussion,  is  not  whether  we  live 
in  a  good  or  bad  state  of  morals  ;  not  how  great  or 
how  splendid  is  the  Empire  of  the  Roman  people  ; 
but  whether  these  things  around  us,  of  whatever 
value  they  are,  are  to  remain  our  own  or  are  to  fall, 
with  ourselves,  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

In   such  a  case,   does  any  one  talk  to  me  of 


Against  the  Conspirators  49 

gentleness  and  compassion  ?  For  some  time  past, 
it  is  true,  we  have  forgotten  the  real  names  of 
things  ;  for  to  lavish  the  property  of  others  is  called 
generosity,  and  audacity  in  wickedness  is  called 
heroism  ;  and  hence  the  State  is  reduced  to  the 
brink  of  ruin.  But  let  those  who  thus  misname 
things  be  liberal,  since  such  is  the  practice,  out  of 
the  property  of  our  allies  ;  let  them  be  merciful  to 
the  robbers  of  the  treasury ;  but  let  them  not  lavish 
our  blood,  and,  while  they  spare  a  few  criminals, 
bring  destruction  on  all  the  guiltless. 

Caius  Caesar,  a  short  time  ago,  spoke  in  fair 
and  elegant  language  before  this  assembly  on  the 
subject  of  Life  and  Death  ;  considering  as  false,  I 
suppose,  that  which  is  said  of  the  dead  :  that  the 
bad,  going  a  different  way  from  the  good,  inhabit 
places  which  are  gloomy,  desolate,  dreary,  and  full 
of  horror.  He  accordingly  proposed  that  the 
property  of  the  conspirators  should  be  confiscated, 
and  themselves  kept  in  custody  in  the  municipal 
towns  ;  fearing,  it  seems,  that  if  they  remain  at 
Rome  they  may  be  rescued  either  by  their  accom- 
plices in  the  conspiracy  or  by  a  hired  mob  ;  as  if, 
forsooth,  the  mischievous  and  profligate  were  to  be 
found  only  in  the  city  and  not  throughout  the 
whole  of  Italy,  or  as  if  desperate  attempts  would 
not  be  more  likely  to  succeed  where  there  is  less 
power  to  resist  them.  His  proposal,  therefore,  if 
he  fears  any  danger  from  them,  is  absurd  ;  but  if, 


VOL.   II. 


50  Marcus  Porcius  Cato 

amidst  such  universal  terror,  he  alone  is  free  from 
alarm,  it  the  more  concerns  me  to  fear  for  you  and 
for  myself 

Be  sure,  then,  that  when  you  decide  on  the 
fate  of  Lentulus  and  the  other  prisoners,  you  at  the 
same  time  determine  that  of  the  army  of  Catiline 
and  of  all  the  conspirators.  The  more  spirit  you 
display  in  your  decision,  the  more  will  their  confi- 
dence be  diminished  ;  but  if  they  perceive  you  in 
the  smallest  degree  irresolute,  they  will  advance 
upon  you  with  fury. 

Do  not  suppose  that  our  ancestors,  from  so 
small  a  commencement,  raised  the  Republic  to 
greatness  merely  by  force  of  arms.  If  such  had 
been  the  case,  we  should  now  enjoy  it  in  a  most 
excellent  condition  ;  for  of  allies  and  citizens,  as 
well  as  arms  and  horses,  we  have  a  much  greater 
abundance  than  they.  But  there  were  other 
things  which  made  them  great,  but  which  no 
longer  exist  among  us  :  such  as  industry  at  home, 
equitable  government  abroad,  and  minds  impartial 
in  council,  uninfluenced  by  any  immoral  or  im- 
proper feeling.  Instead  of  such  virtues,  we  have 
luxury  and  avarice,  public  distress  and  private 
superfluity  ;  we  extol  wealth,  and  yield  to  indo- 
lence ;  no  distinction  is  made  between  good  men 
and  bad  ;  and  ambition  usurps  the  honors  due  to 
virtue.  Nor  is  this  wonderful,  since  each  of  you 
studies  his  own  interest,  since  at  home  you  are 


Against  the  Conspirators  51 

slaves  to  pleasure,  and  here  to  money  or  to  favor ; 
and  hence  it  happens  that  an  attack  is  made  on 
the  defenceless  State. 

But  on  these  subjects  1  shall  say  no  more.  Cer- 
tain citizens,  of  the  highest  rank,  have  conspired 
to  ruin  their  country  ;  they  are  inciting  the  Gauls, 
the  bitterest  foes  of  the  Roman  name,  to  join  in  a 
war  against  us  ;  the  leader  of  the  enemy  is  ready  to 
make  a  descent  upon  us,  and  do  you  hesitate,  even 
in  such  circumstances,  how  to  treat  armed  incendi- 
aries arrested  within  your  walls  ?  1  advise  you  to 
have  mercy  upon  them  ;  they  are  young  men  who 
have  been  led  astray  by  ambition  ;  send  them 
away,  even  with  arms  in  their  hands.  But  if  they 
turn  those  arms  against  you,  such  mercy  and  such 
clemency  will  end  in  misery  to  yourselves.  The 
case,  assuredly,  is  dangerous,  but  you  do  not  feel 
it ;  yes,  you  fear  it  greatly,  but  through  weakness 
and  want  of  spirit  you  hesitate  how  to  act,  wait- 
ing one  for  another,  and  trusting  to  the  immortal 
gods,  who  have  so  often  preserved  your  country 
in  the  greatest  dangers.  But  the  protection  of  the 
gods  is  not  obtained  by  vows  and  womanish  sup- 
plications ;  it  is  by  vigilance,  activity,  and  prudent 
measures  that  general  welfare  is  secured.  When 
you  are  once  resigned  to  sloth  and  indolence,  it 
is  in  vain  that  you  implore  the  gods  ;  they  are 
then  indignant  and  threaten  vengeance. 

In  the  days  of  our  forefathers,  Titus  Manlius 


52  Marcus  Porcius  Cato 

Torquatus,  during  a  war  with  the  Gauls,  ordered 
his  own  son  to  be  put  to  death,  because  he  had 
fought  with  an  enemy  contrary  to  orders.  That 
noble  youth  suffered  for  excess  of  bravery  ;  and  do 
you  hesitate  in  determining  what  sentence  to  pass 
on  the  most  inhuman  of  traitors  ?  Perhaps  their 
former  life  is  at  variance  with  their  present  crime. 
Spare,  then,  the  dignity  of  Lentulus,  if  he  has  ever 
spared  his  own  honor  or  character,  or  had  any  re- 
gard for  gods  or  for  men.  Pardon  the  youth  of 
Cethegus,  unless  this  be  the  second  time  that  he 
has  made  war  upon  his  country.  As  to  Gabinius, 
Statilius,  Coeparius,  why  should  1  make  any  re- 
mark upon  them  ?  Had  they  ever  possessed  the 
smallest  share  of  discretion,  they  would  not  have 
engaged  in  such  a  plot  against  their  country. 

In  conclusion.  Conscript  Fathers,  if  there  were 
time  to  amend  an  error,  1  might  easily  suffer  you, 
since  you  disregard  words,  to  be  corrected  by  ex- 
perience of  consequences.  But  we  are  beset  by 
dangers  on  all  sides :  Catiline,  with  his  army,  is 
ready  to  devour  us,  while  there  are  other  enemies 
within  the  walls  and  in  the  heart  of  the  city  ;  and 
no  measures  can  be  taken,  no  plans  arranged, 
without  their  knowledge.  The  more  necessary  is 
it,  therefore,  to  act  with  promptitude.  What  1 
advise,  then,  is  this :  since  the  State,  by  a 
treasonable  combination  of  abandoned  citizens, 
has  been   brought   into  the  greatest   peril,   and 


Against  the  Conspirators 


53 


since  the  conspirators  have  been  convicted,  on  the 
evidence  of  Titus  Volturcius  and  of  the  deputies 
of  the  Allobroges,  and  on  their  own  confession, 
of  having  concerted  massacres,  conflagrations,  and 
other  horrible  and  cruel  outrages  against  their 
fellow-citizens  and  their  country,  that,  therefore, 
punishment  ought  to  be  inflicted,  according  to  the 
usage  of  our  ancestors,  on  the  prisoners  who  have 
confessed  their  guilt,  as  on  men  convicted  of 
capital  crimes. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  THE   POWER  OF  THE   NOBILITY 

Cuius  Memmius, 

"  When  rumor  had  made  known  the  affairs  transacted  in  Africa  [the  conduct  of 
the  Roman  generals  in  treating  with  Jugurtha]  and  the  mode  in  which  they  had 
been  brought  to  pass,  the  conduct  of  the  consul  became  a  subject  of  discussion 
in  every  place  and  company  at  Rome.  Among  the  people  there  was  violent  in- 
dignation ;  as  to  the  Senators,  it  was  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  they  would 
ratify  so  flagitious  a  proceeding  or  annul  the  act  of  the  consul.  The  influence  of 
Scaurus,  who  was  said  to  be  the  supporter  and  accomplice  of  Bestia,  was  what 
chiefly  restrained  the  Senate  from  acting  with  justice  and  honor.  But  Caius 
Memmius,  of  whose  boldness  of  spirit  and  hatred  to  the  power  of  the  nobility  I 
have  already  spoken,  incited  the  people  by  his  harangues,  during  the  perplexity 
and  delay  of  the  Senators,  to  take  vengeance  on  the  authors  of  the  treaty  ;  he 
exhorted  them  not  to  abandon  the  public  interest  or  their  own  liberty  ;  he  set 
before  them  the  many  tyrannical  and  violent  proceedings  of  the  nobles,  and 
omitted  no  art  to  inflame  the  popular  passions.  As  the  eloquence  of  Memmius, 
at  that  period,  had  great  reputation  and  influence,  I  have  thought  proper  to  give 
in  full  one  out  of  many  of  his  speeches  ;  and  1  take,  in  preference  to  others,  that 
which  he  delivered  in  the  assembly  of  the  people,  after  the  return  of  Bestia,  in 
words  of  the  following  effect :  "    (Sallust.) 


WERE  not  my  zeal  for  the  good  of  the  State, 
my  fellow-citizens,  superior  to  every  other 
feeling,  there  are  many  considerations  which  would 
deter  me  from  appearing  in  your  cause  ;  I  allude  to 
the  power  of  the  opposite  party,  your  own  tameness 
of  spirit,  the  absence  of  all  justice,  and,  above  all, 
the  fact  that  integrity  is  attended  with  more  danger 

54 


Against  the  Power  of  the  Nobility         55 

than  honor,  hideed,  it  grieves  me  to  relate  how, 
during  the  last  fifteen  years,  you  have  been  a  sport 
to  the  arrogance  of  an  oligarchy  ;  how  dishonor- 
ably and  how  utterly  unavenged  your  defenders 
have  perished ;  and  how  your  spirit  has  become 
degenerate  by  sloth  and  indolence  ;  for  not  even 
now,  when  your  enemies  are  in  your  power,  will 
you  rouse  yourselves  to  action,  but  you  continue 
still  to  stand  in  awe  of  those  to  whom  you  should 
be  a  terror. 

Notwithstanding  this  state  of  things,  I  still  feel 
prompted  to  make  an  attack  on  the  power  of  that 
faction.  That  liberty  of  speech,  therefore,  which 
has  been  left  me  by  my  father  1  shall  assuredly  ex- 
ert against  them  ;  but  whether  1  shall  use  it  in  vain, 
or  for  your  advantage,  must,  my  fellow-citizens, 
depend  upon  yourselves.  1  do  not,  however,  ex- 
hort you,  as  your  ancestors  have  often  done,  to  rise 
in  arms  against  injustice.  There  is  at  present  no 
need  of  violence,  no  need  of  secession  ;  for  your 
tyrants  must  work  their  fall  by  their  own 
misconduct. 

After  the  murder  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  whom 
they  accused  of  aspiring  to  be  king,  persecutions 
were  instituted  against  the  common  people  of 
Rome  ;  and  after  the  slaughter  of  Gains  Gracchus 
and  Marcus  Fulvius,  many  of  your  order  were  put 
to  death  in  prison.  But  let  us  leave  these  pro- 
ceedings out  of  the  question  ;  let  us  admit  that  to 


56  Caius  Memmius 

restore  their  rights  to  the  people  was  to  aspire  to 
sovereignty  ;  let  us  allow  that  what  cannot  be 
avenged  without  shedding  the  blood  of  citizens 
was  done  with  justice.  You  have  seen  with  silent 
indignation,  however,  in  past  years,  the  treasury 
pillaged  ;  you  have  seen  kings  and  free  people  pay- 
ing tribute  to  a  small  party  of  Patricians,  in  whose 
hands  were  both  the  highest  honors  and  the 
greatest  wealth  ;  but  they  now  deem  it  but  a  small 
matter  to  have  carried  on  such  proceedings  with 
impunity  ;  and,  at  last,  your  laws  and  your  honor, 
with  every  civil  and  religious  obligation,  have  been 
sacrificed  for  the  benefit  of  your  enemies.  Nor  do 
they  who  have  done  these  things  show  either  shame 
or  contrition,  but  parade  proudly  before  your  faces, 
displaying  their  sacerdotal  dignities,  their  consul- 
ships, and  some  of  them  their  triumphs,  as  if  they 
regarded  them  as  marks  of  honor  and  not  as  fruits 
of  their  dishonesty.  Even  slaves,  purchased  with 
money,  will  not  submit  to  unjust  commands  from 
their  masters ;  yet  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  who 
were  born  to  empire,  tamely  endure  oppression. 

But  who  are  these,  who  have  thus  taken  the 
government  into  their  hands  ?  Men  of  the  most 
abandoned  character,  of  blood-stained  hands,  of 
insatiable  avarice,  of  enormous  guilt,  and  of  match- 
less pride ;  men  by  whom  integrity,  reputation, 
public  spirit,  and  indeed  everything,  whether  hon- 
orable or  dishonorable,  is  converted   to  a  means 


Against  the  Power  of  the  Nobility         57 

of  gain.  Some  of  them  make  it  their  defence 
that  they  have  killed  tribunes  of  the  people  ; 
others,  that  they  have  instituted  unjust  prosecu- 
tions ;  others,  that  they  have  shed  your  blood  ; 
and  thus,  the  more  atrocities  each  has  committed, 
the  greater  is  his  security  ;  while  your  oppressors, 
whom  the  same  desires,  the  same  aversions,  and 
the  same  fears  combine  in  strict  union  (a  union 
among  good  men  is  friendship,  but  among  the 
bad  is  confederacy  in  guilt),  have  excited  in  you, 
through  your  want  of  spirit,  that  terror  which  they 
ought  to  feel  for  their  own  crimes. 

If  your  concern  to  preserve  your  liberty  were  as 
great  as  their  ardor  to  increase  their  power  of  op- 
pression, the  State  would  not  be  distracted  as  it  is 
at  present ;  and  the  marks  of  favor  which  proceed 
from  you  would  be  conferred,  not  on  the  most 
shameless,  but  on  the  most  deserving.  Your  fore- 
fathers, in  order  to  assert  their  rights  and  establish 
their  authority,  twice  seceded  in  arms  to  Mount 
Aventine  ;  and  will  not  you  exert  yourselves,  to 
the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  defence  of  that  lib- 
erty which  you  received  from  them  ?  Will  you 
not  display  so  much  the  more  spirit  in  the  cause, 
from  the  reflection  that  it  is  a  greater  disgrace  to 
lose  what  has  been  gained,  than  not  to  have 
gained  it  at  all  ? 

But  some  will  ask  me,  "What  course  of  conduct, 
then,  would  you  advise  us  to  pursue  ?  "    I  would 


58  Caius  Memmius 

advise  you  to  inflict  punishment  on  those  who 
have  sacrificed  the  interests  of  their  country  to  the 
enemy ;  not,  indeed,  by  arms,  or  any  violence 
(which  would  be  more  unbecoming,  however,  for 
you  to  inflict  than  for  them  to  suffer),  but  by  prose- 
cutions, and  by  the  evidence  of  Jugurtha  himself, 
who,  if  he  has  really  surrendered,  will  doubtless 
obey  your  summons ;  whereas,  if  he  shows  con- 
tempt for  it,  you  will  at  once  judge  what  sort  of  a 
peace  or  surrender  it  is  from  which  springs  im- 
punity to  Jugurtha  for  his  crimes,  immense  wealth 
to  a  few  men  in  power,  and  loss  and  infamy  to  the 
Republic. 

But  perhaps  you  are  not  yet  weary  of  the  tyranny 
of  these  men  ;  perhaps  these  times  please  you  less 
than  those  when  kingdoms,  provinces,  laws,  rights, 
the  administration  of  justice,  war,  and  peace,  and 
indeed  everything,  civil  and  religious,  was  in  the 
hands  of  an  oligarchy ;  while  you,  that  is,  the 
people  of  Rome,  though  unconquered  by  foreign 
enemies  and  rulers  of  all  nations  around,  were 
content  with  being  allowed  to  live  ;  for  which  of 
you  had  spirit  to  throw  off  your  slavery  ?  For 
myself,  indeed,  though  I  think  it  most  disgraceful 
to  receive  an  injury  without  resenting  it,  yet  1  could 
easily  allow  you  to  pardon  these  basest  of  traitors, 
because  they  are  your  fellow-citizens,  were  it  not 
certain  that  your  indulgence  would  end  in  your 
destruction.     For  such  is  their  presumption,  that 


Against  the  Power  of  the  NobiHty         59 

to  escape  punishment  for  their  misdeeds  will  have 
but  little  effect  upon  them,  unless  they  be  de- 
prived at  the  same  time  of  the  power  of  doing 
mischief;  and  endless  anxiety  will  remain  for  you 
if  you  shall  have  to  reflect  that  you  must  either  be 
slaves  or  preserve  your  liberty  by  force  of  arms. 

Of  mutual  trust,  or  concord,  what  hope  is  there  ? 
They  wish  to  be  lords  ;  you  desire  to  be  free  ;  they 
seek  to  inflict  injury,  you  to  repel  it ;  they  treat 
your  allies  as  enemies,  your  enemies  as  allies. 
With  feelings  so  opposite,  can  peace  or  friendship 
subsist  between  you  ?  1  warn  you,  therefore,  and 
exhort  you,  not  to  allow  such  enormous  dishon- 
esty to  go  unpunished.  It  is  not  an  embezzlement 
of  the  public  money  that  has  been  committed ; 
it  is  not  a  forcible  extortion  of  money  from  your 
allies ;  offences,  which,  though  great,  are  now, 
from  their  frequency,  considered  as  nothing ;  but 
the  authority  of  the  Senate  and  your  own  power 
have  been  sacrificed  to  the  bitterest  of  enemies, 
and  the  public  interest  has  been  betrayed  for 
money,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ;  and  unless 
these  misdeeds  be  investigated  and  punishment 
be  inflicted  on  the  guilty,  what  remains  for  us  but 
to  live  as  the  slaves  of  those  who  have  committed 
them  ?  For  those  who  with  impunity  do  what 
they  will  are  undoubtedly  kings. 

1  do  not,  however,  wish  to  encourage  you,  O 
Romans,  to  be  better  satisfied  by  finding  your 


6o  Caius  Memmius 

fellow-citizens  guilty  than  innocent,  but  merely  to 
warn  you  not  to  bring  ruin  on  the  good  by  suffer- 
ing the  bad  to  escape.  It  is  far  better,  in  any 
government,  to  be  unmindful  of  a  service  than  of 
an  injury ;  for  a  good  man,  if  neglected,  only  be- 
comes less  active  ;  but  a  bad  man  becomes  more 
daring.  Besides,  if  the  crimes  of  the  wicked  are 
suppressed,  the  State  will  seldom  need  extraordi- 
nary support  from  the  virtuous. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  SULLA 

Marcus  y^milius  Lepidus. 

This  oration  has  been  declared  authentic  by  early  critics.  There  is  at  present 
little  doubt  that,  though  the  thoughts  may  possibly  be  those  of  Lepidus,  the 
composition  is  the  work  of  Sallust. 

YOUR  clemency  and  probity,  O  Romans,  for 
which  you  are  eminent  and  renowned  among 
other  nations,  excite  in  me  the  greatest  apprehen- 
sions concerning  the  tyranny  of  Sulla,  lest  either 
by  disbelieving  about  others  what  you  yourselves 
think  wrongful,  you  should  allow  imposition  to  be 
practised  upon  you  (especially  since  all  his  hopes 
depend  on  dishonesty  and  perfidy,  and  he  does  not 
deem  himself  safe  otherwise  than  by  becoming 
more  abandoned  and  infamous  than  ever  your  fears 
can  forebode,  so  that,  when  you  are  completely  sub- 
jected to  him,  your  sufferings  may  suppress  in  you 
all  care  of  recovering  your  liberty)  ;  or  lest,  if  you 
foresee  his  machinations,  you  should  occupy  your 
thoughts  rather  in  guarding  against  them  than  in 
taking  revenge  for  them. 
His  satellites,  men  of  the  highest  name  and  with 

6i 


62  Marcus  ^milius  Lepidus 

the  noblest  examples  of  their  forefathers  for  their 
imitation,  sacrifice  their  own  freedom  (I  cannot 
sufficiently  wonder  at  their  conduct)  as  a  price  for 
the  opportunity  of  domineering  over  you,  and  pre- 
fer slavery  and  tyranny  without  laws  to  liberty 
under  the  best  laws.  Illustrious  descendants  of 
the  Bruti,  /Emilii,  and  Lutatii,  born  to  overthrow 
that  which  the  virtue  of  their  ancestors  estab- 
lished !  For  what  was  it  that  they  defended 
against  Pyrrhus,  and  Hannibal,  and  Philip,  and 
Antiochus,  but  liberty,  and  the  security  of  our 
homes,  and  obedience  to  nothing  but  the  laws  ? 
But  all  these  privileges  this  cruel  Romulus  with- 
holds from  us,  as  spoils  torn  from  foreign  enemies  ; 
nor  is  he  satiated  with  the  destruction  of  so  many 
armies,  of  a  consul,  and  of  other  eminent  men 
whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  overwhelmed  in 
death,  but  grows  still  more  bloodthirsty  at  a  time 
when  victory  converts  the  fury  of  most  command- 
ers into  compassion.  He  is  the  only  one,  in  the 
memory  of  man,  who  has  appointed  punishments 
for  children  yet  unborn,  to  whom  suffering  is  thus 
insured  before  life.  He  revels  in  his  atrocities,  de- 
fended as  yet  by  the  enormity  of  his  crimes  ;  while 
you,  through  dread  of  heavier  servitude,  are  de- 
terred from  making  an  effort  to  recover  your  liberty. 
Such  despotism,  my  fellow-citizens,  you  must 
exert  yourselves  to  oppose,  that  your  spoils  may 
not  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  oppressor ;   you 


Aerainst  Sulla  63 


'^fc) 


must  not  delay,  or  think  of  trusting  for  relief  to 
entreaties  ;  unless,  perchance,  you  expect  that, 
growing  at  length  tired  or  ashamed  of  his  tyranny, 
he  will  venture  on  the  greater  hazard  of  resigning 
what  he  has  unjustly  usurped.  But  he  has  pro- 
ceeded to  such  a  point  that  he  thinks  no  conduct 
is  glorious  but  such  as  conduces  to  his  safety,  and 
deems  everything  laudable  that  assists  in  preserv- 
ing his  power.  It  is  in  vain  for  you  to  expect  that 
peace  and  tranquillity,  therefore,  which,  with  the 
enjoyment  of  liberty,  many  good  men  have  sought 
in  preference  to  toil  with  honor ;  you  must  either 
be  slaves  or  rulers,  my  fellow-citizens,  you  must 
either  be  subjects  of  terror  or  objects  of  it.  For 
what  else  is  left  to  you  ?  What  human  objects  or 
desires  remain  ?  Or  does  anything  divine  continue 
inviolate  ?  The  people  of  Rome,  once  the  lords 
of  other  nations,  but  now  deprived  of  empire,  dig- 
nity, and  authority,  and  rendered  helpless  and 
despicable,  fmd  left  to  them  not  even  the  allow- 
ance made  to  slaves.  The  vast  multitude  of  the 
allies  and  the  Latins,  whom  you  presented  with 
the  civil  franchise  for  their  many  honorable  ser- 
vices, are  excluded  therefrom  by  the  will  of  a 
single  individual,  whose  small  band  of  satellites 
have  seized,  as  the  rewards  of  their  villanies,  the 
patrimonial  lands  of  the  innocent  commonalty. 
The  laws,  the  administration  of  justice,  the  treas- 
ury, the  provinces,  the  tributary  princes,  are  all 


64  Marcus  ^milius  Lepidus 

under  the  direction  of  one  man.  You  have  seen 
even  human  sacrifices  offered  by  him,  and  tombs 
dyed  with  the  blood  of  Roman  citizens.  And  does 
any  other  course  remain,  then,  for  those  who 
would  act  as  men,  but  to  put  an  end  to  such  injus- 
tice, or  to  die  honorably  in  attempting  to  do  so  ? 
For  nature  has  appointed  one  end  to  all  men,  even 
though  a  man  should  be  encased  in  steel ;  nor  will 
any  one,  unless  he  has  but  the  heart  of  a  woman, 
await  without  an  effort  the  last  extremity. 

But  I,  according  to  Sulla's  representations,  am 
a  promoter  of  sedition,  because  1  complain  of  the 
rewards  obtained  by  civil  commotions  ;  and  a 
lover  of  war,  because  I  seek  to  recover  the  priv- 
ileges of  peace.  To  make  such  a  charge  is  to  say 
that  you  cannot  be  safe  or  secure  under  his  gov- 
ernment, unless  Vettius  Picens  and  Cornelius  the 
accountant  be  allowed  to  squander  what  others 
have  honorably  acquired,  and  unless  you  approve 
all  the  proscriptions  of  the  innocent  for  the  sake 
of  their  wealth,  the  torture  of  illustrious  citizens, 
the  depopulation  of  the  city  by  banishment  and 
slaughter,  and  the  practice  of  selling  or  giving 
away,  as  if  spoils  taken  from  the  Cimbri,  the  pos- 
sessions of  your  unfortunate  countrymen.  He, 
however,  objects  to  me,  further,  that  I  myself  have 
a  share  in  the  property  of  those  proscribed ;  but 
that  1  have  such  a  share  is  the  very  greatest  proof 
of  his  tyranny,  since  neither  I  nor  any  one  of  us  all 


Against  Sulla  65 

would  have  been  safe  from  his  vengeance  if  we 
had  strictly  adhered  to  honesty.  Yet  that  very 
property,  which  I  then  bought  under  the  influence 
of  terror,  1  am  ready  to  restore,  on  repayment  of 
the  purchase  money,  to  the  rightful  owners  ;  for  it 
is  not  my  design  to  sanction  the  spoliation  of  my 
fellow-citizens.  Let  the  sufferings  which  have  re- 
sulted from  the  indulgence  of  our  angry  passions, 
from  allowing  Roman  armies  to  encounter  each 
other,  and  from  turning  our  arms  from  our  ene- 
mies against  ourselves,  be  sufficient.  Let  there 
be  an  end  of  injustice  and  outrage  ;  of  which, 
however,  Sulla  himself  is  so  far  from  repenting, 
that  he  glories  in  the  perpetration  of  it,  and  would 
pursue  it  with  greater  avidity  if  he  had  greater 
power. 

But  I  am  not  so  much  concerned  about  the 
opinion  which  you  may  have  of  his  character 
as  about  the  courage  which  you  may  find  to  op- 
pose him.  1  am  apprehensive  lest,  while  each 
waits  for  his  neighbor  to  begin  to  act,  you  should 
all  be  absolutely  reduced  to  subjection  (not  indeed 
by  his  power,  which  is  weakened  and  impaired, 
but  by  your  own  indolence)  before  you  can  pro- 
ceed against  him,  and  before  he  can  venture  to 
flatter  himself  with  the  hopes  of  such  success. 
For,  except  his  corrupt  partisans,  what  man  ap- 
proves his  proceedings  ?  Who  does  not  wish  that 
every  part  of  his  course,  except  his  victory,  had 

VOL.  II.— 5. 


66  Marcus  ^milius  Lepidus 

been  of  a  different  character  ?  The  soldiers,  by 
whose  blood  wealth  has  been  gained  for  Tarrula 
and  Scyrrus,  the  worst  of  slaves  ?  Or  those  to 
whom,  in  competition  for  office,  was  preferred  Fu- 
fidius,  a  disgrace  to  his  sex  and  a  dishonor  to 
every  magistracy  ?  To  the  victorious  army,  ac- 
cordingly, I  look  for  the  strongest  support,  by 
whom,  through  so  many  sufferings  and  hardships, 
nothing  has  been  gained  but  an  oppressor ;  unless 
we  suppose,  indeed,  that  they  took  the  field  pur- 
posely to  destroy  the  tribunitial  power  which  was 
established  by  their  ancestors,  or  to  divest  them- 
selves of  their  own  privileges  and  right  of  judica- 
ture ?  Glorious,  in  truth,  was  their  recompense, 
when,  banished  to  woods  and  marshes,  they  found 
reproach  and  hatred  their  only  portion,  and  saw 
the  spoils  of  conquest  in  the  hands  of  an  oli- 
garchy ! 

How  is  it,  then,  that  he  presents  himself  before 
us  with  such  a  train  of  followers,  and  with  such 
audacity  ?  Because  success  throws  a  wonderful 
veil  over  vice  ;  (though,  should  fortune  fail  him,  he 
will  be  as  much  despised  as  he  is  now  dreaded ;) 
unless,  perchance,  he  seeks  to  delude  you  with  a 
prospect  of  concord  and  peace,  names  which  he 
himself  has  given  to  his  wickedness  and  treachery, 
saying  that  Rome  can  never  have  an  end  of  war, 
unless  the  commonalty  remain  expelled  from  their 
lands  (a  calamitous  prey  of  civil  war),  and  the 


Against  Sulla  67 

power  and  judicial  authority  in  all  matters,  which 
once  belonged  to  the  Roman  people,  be  vested  in 
himself  alone.  If  such  an  arrangement  be  thought 
peace  and  concord,  give  your  approval,  I  pray  you, 
to  the  most  extravagant  disturbances  and  altera- 
tions of  the  State  ;  grant  your  sanction  to  the  laws 
which  are  imposed  upon  you  ;  accept  tranquillity 
and  servitude  ;  and  afford  to  posterity  an  example 
for  enslaving  the  people  of  Rome  by  the  hire  of 
their  own  blood. 

For  myself,  although,  by  my  elevation  to  this 
high  office,  enough  has  been  attained  for  my  an- 
cestral name,  for  my  own  dignity,  and  even  for 
my  personal  protection,  it  was  never  my  design  to 
pursue  merely  my  own  interests.  Liberty,  gained 
with  peril,  appears  to  me  more  desirable  than  indo- 
lent servitude.  And  if  you,  my  fellow-citizens, 
approve  this  sentiment,  give  me  your  support, 
and,  relying  on  the  gracious  assistance  of  the  gods, 
follow  your  consul,  Marcus  y^milius,  as  your  leader 
and  guide  to  the  recovery  of  your  freedom. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  LEPIDUS 

Lucius  Philippus. 

This  creation  is  without  doubt  the  wori<  of  Sallust.  It  is  the  companion 
speech  to  that  of  Lepidus  against  Sulla,  although  not  delivered  until  some  time 
after  the  date  assigned  to  the  latter  oration. 

1  COULD  wish,  beyond  all  things,  Conscript 
Fathers,  that  the  State  should  be  at  peace,  or 
that,  if  it  be  in  danger,  it  should  be  defended  by 
its  ablest  citizens,  and  that  mischievous  plots 
should  prove  the  ruin  of  their  contrivers.  But,  on 
the  contrary,  everything  is  disordered  by  factious 
disturbances,  disturbances  excited  by  those  whom 
it  would  better  become  to  suppress  them  than  to 
incite  them.  What  the  worst  and  weakest,  more- 
over, have  determined  upon,  is  to  be  executed  by 
the  good  and  wise.  For,  though  averse  to  your 
inclinations,  we  are  to  undertake  war  because  it 
pleases  Lepidus  ;  unless  any  of  us,  perchance, 
choose  to  secure  him  peace  on  our  part,  and  to 
suffer  hostilities  on  his. 

Just  heaven  !  ye,  who  yet  rule  this  city,  but  take 
no  thought  for  its  interests,  behold  Lepidus,  the 

68 


Against  Lepidus  69 

worst  of  all  infamous  characters,  of  whom  it  can- 
not be  decided  whether  his  wickedness  or  baseness 
is  the  greater,  heads  an  army  for  the  purpose  of 
oppressing  our  liberties,  and  he  who  was  once 
contemptible  has  made  himself  formidable  ;  while 
you,  whispering  and  shrinking  back,  influenced 
by  words  and  the  predictions  of  augurs,  desire  to 
have  peace  rather  than  to  maintain  it,  unmindful 
that,  by  the  weakness  of  your  resolutions,  you 
lessen  at  once  your  dignity  and  his  fears.  And 
this  is  a  natural  consequence,  when,  by  plun- 
der, he  has  gained  from  you  a  consulship,  and, 
by  his  factious  proceedings,  a  province  and  an 
army.  What  would  he  have  received  for  good 
deeds,  when  you  have  bestowed  such  rewards  on 
his  villanies  ? 

But,  you  will  say,  those  who  have  voted  to  the 
last  for  the  sending  of  deputies,  for  peace,  concord, 
and  other  things  of  the  kind,  have  obtained  favor 
from  him.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  been  held 
in  contempt,  thought  unworthy  of  any  share  in  the 
administration,  and  fit  only  to  be  the  prey  of  others, 
as  persons  who  sue  for  peace  with  the  same  weak- 
ness with  which  they  lost  it  when  it  was  in  their 
possession.  For  myself,  when,  at  the  very  first, 
I  saw  Etruria  conspiring  with  him,  the  proscribed 
called  to  his  support,  and  the  Republic  rent  into 
factions  by  his  bribes,  I  thought  that  no  time  was 
to  be  lost,  and  accordingly  followed,  with  a  few 


70  Lucius  Philippus 

others,  the  measures  of  Catulus.  But  that  party 
which  extolled  the  services  which  the  /Emilian 
family  rendered  the  State,  and  said  that  the  great- 
ness of  the  Romans  had  been  increased  by  lenity, 
could  not  then  perceive  that  Lepidus  had  done 
anything  extraordinary  ;  and  even  when  he  had 
taken  up  arms  without  your  authority  and  for  the 
destruction  of  your  liberty,  each  of  them,  by  seek- 
ing wealth  and  patronage  for  himself,  weakened 
the  public  counsels.  At  that  time,  however,  Lepi- 
dus was  merely  a  marauder,  at  the  head  of  a  few 
camp-followers  and  cutthroats,  each  of  whom 
would  have  perilled  his  life  for  a  day's  wages ; 
now  he  is  a  proconsul  with  full  authority — an 
authority  not  bought,  but  conferred  on  him  by  you 
yourselves — and  with  officers  still  obliged  by  law 
to  obey  him  ;  while  there  have  flocked  to  his  stand- 
ard the  most  profligate  characters  of  every  rank, 
men  who  are  turbulent  from  distress  and  cupidity 
and  harassed  with  the  consciousness  of  crimes ; 
men  who  are  at  ease  in  broils  and  restless  in 
peace ;  men  who  excite  tumult  after  tumult  and 
war  after  war ;  and  men  who  were  first  the  fol- 
lowers of  Saturninus,  then  of  Sulpicius,  next  of 
Marius  and  Damasippus,  and  have  now  become 
the  instruments  of  Lepidus.  Etruria,  moreover, 
is  in  insurrection  ;  all  the  embers  of  the  last  war 
are  rekindled ;  the  Spains  are  solicited  to  take 
arms ;   Mithridates,  on  the  very  frontier  of  the 


Against  Lepidus  71 

tributaries  that  still  support  us,  is  watching  an  op- 
portunity to  commence  hostilities  ;  and  nothing  but 
a  proper  leader  is  wanting  to  subvert  our  govern- 
ment. I  therefore  entreat  and  conjure  you,  Con- 
script Fathers,  to  give  your  serious  attention  to  this 
matter,  and  not  to  suffer  the  unbridled  influence  of 
corruption,  like  the  ravages  of  a  disease,  to  spread 
by  contact  to  the  uninfected.  For  when  honors 
are  heaped  on  the  unprincipled,  scarcely  will  any 
one  maintain  an  integrity  which  is  unrewarded. 
Or  are  you  waiting  till,  having  again  brought  his 
army  upon  you,  he  attacks  the  city  with  fire  and 
sword  ? — a  much  shorter  step  from  his  present 
assumptions  than  that  from  peace  and  concord  to 
civil  war ;  a  war  which  he  commenced  in  defiance 
of  every  obligation,  human  and  divine  ;  not  to  re- 
dress his  own  grievances,  or  those  of  the  persons 
whose  cause  he  pretends  to  vindicate,  but  to  sub- 
vert our  laws  and  our  liberty.  For  he  is  disquieted 
and  harassed  with  raging  desires  and  terror  for  his 
crimes ;  he  is  undecided  and  restless,  pursuing 
sometimes  one  scheme  and  sometimes  another ; 
dreading  peace,  and  hating  war ;  feeling  that  he 
must  abstain  from  luxury  and  licentiousness,  yet 
taking  advantage  meantime  of  your  inactivity,  in- 
activity which  I  do  not  know  whether  I  should  not 
rather  call  fear,  or  pusillanimity,  or  infatuation  ;  for 
while  you  see  peril  threatening  you  like  a  thun- 
derbolt, you  merely  wish,  each  for  himself,  that  it 


72  Lucius  Philippus 

may  not  fall  upon  you,  but  do  not  make  the  least 
effort  to  prevent  it. 

Consider,  I  pray  you,  how  the  temper  of  the 
times  is  changed  from  what  it  was.  Formerly, 
designs  against  the  Commonwealth  were  con- 
ducted secretly,  and  measures  for  its  defence  with 
openness,  and  thus  the  lovers  of  their  country  had 
a  great  advantage  over  incendiaries ;  now  peace 
and  concord  are  publicly  impugned,  and  supported 
only  by  plans  concerted  in  secret.  Those  who 
espouse  a  bad  cause  show  themselves  in  arms  ; 
you,  Conscript  Fathers,  shrink  back  in  terror.  But 
for  what  do  you  wait,  unless  you  are  ashamed  or 
unwilling  to  act  as  becomes  you  ?  Do  the  declar- 
ations of  Lepidus  influence  you  ? — of  Lepidus,  who 
says  that  each  should  have  his  own,  and  yet  re- 
tains the  property  of  others  ;  who  proclaims  that 
laws  established  by  arms  should  be  abrogated,  and 
yet  seeks  to  bring  us  under  his  yoke  by  a  civil 
war ;  who  asserts  that  the  civic  franchise  should 
be  restored  to  those  from  whom  he  denies  that  it 
has  been  taken  ;  and  who  insists,  for  the  sake 
of  concord,  on  the  reestablishment  of  the  tribunal 
power,  by  which  all  our  discords  have  been  in- 
flamed. O  most  abandoned  and  shameless  of 
men  !  Have  the  distresses  and  troubles  of  the 
citizens  become  objects  of  thy  care,  who  hast 
in  thy  possession  nothing  but  what  has  been  ob- 
tained by  violence  and  injustice  ?  Thou  demandest 


Against  Lepidus  7o 

a  second  consulship,  as  if  thou  hadst  resigned 
the  first  ;  thou  seekest  a  pretended  peace  by 
means  of  a  war  that  breaks  the  real  peace  which 
we  enjoyed  ;  thou  art  a  traitor  to  us,  a  deceiver 
of  thy  party,  and  the  enemy  of  all  honest  men  ! 
Hast  thou  no  shame  before  either  gods  or  men, 
both  of  whom  thou  hast  offended  by  thy  perfidies 
and  perjuries  ?  But,  since  thou  art  what  thou  art, 
I  exhort  thee  to  persist  in  thy  course,  and  to  keep 
thy  weapons  in  thy  hands  ;  and  do  not  make  thy- 
self uneasy,  and  keep  us  in  suspense,  by  delaying 
thy  traitorous  purposes.  Neither  our  provinces, 
nor  our  laws,  nor  our  household  gods  endure  thee 
as  a  citizen.  Proceed,  then,  as  thou  hast  begun,  that 
thou  mayest  as  soon  as  possible  meet  thy  deserts  ! 
But  you,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  how  long  will 
you  keep  the  Republic  in  insecurity  by  your  de- 
lays, and  meet  arms  only  with  words  ?  Forces 
are  levied  against  you  ;  money  is  raised  publicly 
and  privately,  by  extortion  ;  troops  are  led  out 
and  placed  in  garrisons ;  the  laws  are  under  arbi- 
trary and  capricious  management ;  and  yet  you, 
meanwhile,  think  only  of  sending  deputies  and 
preparing  resolutions.  But,  be  assured,  the  more 
earnestly  you  sue  for  peace,  the  more  vigorously 
will  war  be  urged  against  you,  for  your  enemy 
will  find  himself  better  supported  by  your  fields 
than  by  the  justice  and  goodness  of  his  cause. 
For  whoever  professes  a  hatred  of  civil  broils,  and 


74  Lucius  Philippus 

of  the  shedding  of  Roman  blood,  and  keeps  you, 
for  that  reason,  defenceless  while  Lepidus  is  in 
arms,  recommends  you  to  submit  to  the  treatment 
which  the  vanquished  must  endure,  when  you 
yourselves  might  inflict  it  on  others.  Such  coun- 
sellors advise  peace  on  your  part  towards  him,  and 
war  on  his  towards  you.  If  exhortations  of  this 
nature  please  you,  if  such  insensibility  has  taken 
possession  of  your  breasts  that,  forgetful  of  the 
crimes  of  Cinna,  by  whose  return  into  the  city  all 
the  dignity  of  your  order  was  trampled  in  the  dust, 
you  will  nevertheless  put  yourselves,  your  wives, 
your  children,  into  the  power  of  Lepidus,  what 
need  is  there  of  resolutions,  or  what  is  the  use  of 
the  aid  of  Catulus  ?  He,  and  all  other  honest 
men,  concern  themselves  for  the  State  in  vain. 
But  act  as  you  please  ;  the  bands  of  Cethegus  and 
other  traitors  stand  ready  for  you,  eager  to  renew 
their  ravages  and  burnings,  and  to  arm  their  hands 
afresh  against  our  household  gods.  If  liberty  and 
honor,  however,  have  more  attractions  for  you, 
decide  on  what  is  worthy  of  the  name  of  Rome, 
and  stimulate  the  courage  of  your  valiant  support- 
ers. A  new  army  is  at  your  command,  with  colo- 
nies of  veterans,  with  all  the  nobility,  and  the  most 
able  commanders.  Fortune  follows  the  braver 
side  ;  and  the  force  which  the  enemy  has  collected 
through  our  remissness  will  dwindle  away  when 
we  begin  to  exert  ourselves. 


Against  Lepidus  75 

My  opinion  therefore  is,  since  Lepidus  is  ad- 
vancing to  the  gates  of  the  city  with  an  army, 
raised  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  with  the 
worst  enemies  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  de- 
fiance of  the  authority  of  the  Senate,  that  Appius 
Claudius,  the  interrex,  Quintus  Catulus,  the  pro- 
consul, and  others  who  are  in  authority,  shall  be 
directed  to  guard  the  city,  and  to  make  it  their  care 
that  the  Republic  receive  no  injury. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


DECLAMATION  AGAINST  CICERO 


This  speech  has  been  attributed  to  Sallust,  to  Vibius  Crispus,  and  to  Porcius 
Latro.     It  is  impossible  to  definitely  settle  its  authorship. 

1  SHOULD  bear  your  reproaches,  Marcus  Tullius, 
with  concern  and  indignation  if  I  thought  that 
you  indulged  in  such  insolence  from  conviction, 
and  not  from  disease  of  mind.  But,  perceiving  in 
you  neither  moderation  nor  modesty,  I  will  give 
you  an  answer,  in  order  that,  if  you  have  received 
any  pleasure  from  speaking  evil  of  me,  you  may 
feel  it  diminished  by  hearing  evil  of  yourself. 

To  whom  shall  I  complain,  or  before  whom  shall 
I  lament.  Conscript  Fathers,  that  our  country  is 
despoiled  by  different  parties,  and  become  a  prey 
to  the  dishonesty  of  the  most  audacious  of  man- 
kind ?  Shall  I  address  myself  to  the  Roman  people, 
who  are  so  corrupted  with  bribes  that  they  are 
ready  to  sell  themselves  and  all  that  belongs  to 
them  ?  Or  shall  I  plead  before  you.  Conscript 
Fathers,  whose  authority  is  grown  a  jest  to  the 

most  infamous  and  abandoned,  and  before  whom 

76 


Declamation  Against  Cicero  "j^ 

Marcus  Tullius  defends  the  laws  and  judgments  of 
the  people,  and  exerts  his  influence  with  the  Sen- 
ate as  if  he  were  the  sole  remaining  descendant 
of  the  illustrious  Scipio  Africanus,  and  not  a  per- 
son who  has  merely  crept  into  the  city  and  been 
recently  adopted  and  engrafted  into  it  ?  But  are 
your  deeds,  Marcus  Tullius,  or  your  words,  un- 
known to  us  ?  Have  you  not  lived  in  such  a 
manner,  from  your  boyhood,  as  to  think  nothing 
that  gratified  another  disgraceful  to  yourself?  Did 
you  not  learn  your  extraordinary  eloquence  under 
Marcus  Piso  at  the  cost  of  your  modesty  ?  Doubt- 
less ;  and  it  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  you 
display  to  your  infamy  that  which  you  acquired 
with  infamy. 

But  1  suppose  the  splendor  of  your  affairs  at 
home  exalts  your  spirits  ;  that  home,  where  you 
have  a  wife  polluted  with  sacrilege  and  perjury, 
and  a  daughter  who  is  a  rival  to  her  mother,  and 
more  compliant  and  submissive  to  you  than  she 
ought  to  be  to  her  father.  Your  very  home  itself, 
thus  fatal  to  you  and  yours,  you  secured  by  force 
and  lawlessness ;  as  if  with  a  view  to  remind  us 
how  much  the  State  is  altered,  when  you,  a  most 
infamous  character,  dwell  in  that  house  which 
once  belonged  to  Publius  Crassus,  a  man  of  con- 
sular honors.  And  though  these  things  are  so, 
Cicero  nevertheless  says  that  he  has  been  at  the 
council  of  the  immortal  gods,  whence  he  who 


yS  Vibius  Crispus 

turns  the  disaster  of  the  country  to  his  own  glory 
was  despatched  as  a  guardian  to  our  city  and  its 
inhabitants,  and  not  as  an  executioner ;  as  if,  for- 
sooth, your  consulship  itself  had  not  been  the 
cause  of  the  conspiracy,  and  as  if  the  State  had 
not  then  been  disordered  in  consequence  of  having 
you  for  a  protector.  But,  as  1  conceive,  you  must 
pride  yourself  still  more  on  those  measures  which 
you  adopted  after  your  consulship,  in  concert  with 
your  wife,  Terentia,  when  you  conducted  trials 
at  your  house  under  the  Plautian  law,  condemning 
some  of  the  conspirators  to  death,  and  others  to 
pay  fines  ;  when  one  built  you  a  Tusculan,  another 
a  Pompeian  villa,  and  a  third  bought  you  a  house  ; 
but  he  who  could  do  nothing  for  you  was  devoted 
to  obloquy  ;  he  had  come  to  attack  your  dwelling, 
or  had  laid  a  plot  against  the  Senate,  and  you 
were  quite  sure  of  his  guilt.  If  the  charges  which 
I  make  are  false,  state  what  property  you  inherited 
from  your  father,  how  much  you  have  acquired  by 
pleading  causes,  from  what  resources  you  bought 
your  house  and  reared,  at  such  vast  expense,  your 
Tusculan  and  Pompeian  villas. 

But,  we  may  suppose,  a  new  man  of  Arpinum, 
of  the  stock  of  Caius  Marius,  imitates  his  virtue, 
contemns  the  enmity  of  the  nobility,  holds  his 
country  dear,  is  to  be  influenced  neither  by  intimi- 
dation nor  by  interest ;  such  would  be  his  love 
for  the  State,  and  such  his  virtuous  magnanimity. 


Declamation  Against  Cicero  79 

On  the  contrary,  he  is  a  man  of  the  lightest 
character,  suppliant  to  his  enemies,  insolent  to  his 
friends ;  a  follower  sometimes  of  one  party,  and 
sometimes  of  another,  but  faithful  to  none  ;  an 
unstable  senator,  a  mercenary  patron ;  a  person 
whose  every  member  is  polluted  with  turpitude, 
whose  tongue  is  false,  whose  hands  are  rapa- 
cious, whose  feet  are  fugitive,  and  what  cannot  de- 
cently be  named,  the  most  dishonored  of  all.  Yet 
he,  a  person  of  this  description,  dares  to  exclaim, 

"  O  fortunatam  natam,  me  consule,  Romam  !  " 

Rome  fortunate  under  your  consulship,  Cicero? 
Nay,  indeed,  most  unfortunate  and  wretched,  suf- 
fering a  most  cruel  proscription  of  her  citizens, 
when  you,  in  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  State, 
compelled  all  the  respectable  classes  to  shrink  be- 
fore your  severity ;  when  all  causes  and  all  laws 
were  under  your  control,  and  when,  having  set 
aside  the  Porcian  law  and  despoiled  us  of  our 
liberty,  you  took  into  your  own  hands  the  power 
of  life  and  death  over  every  one  of  us.  Nor  are  you 
content  to  have  done  this  with  impunity  ;  you  re- 
proach us  by  reminding  us  of  it,  and  we  are  not 
allowed  to  forget  our  slavish  submission.  But  let 
it  suffice,  I  entreat  you,  Cicero,  that  you  have 
effected  and  accomplished  what  you  pleased  ;  it  is 
sufficient  that  we  have  endured  it ;  would  you,  in 


8o  Vibius  Crispus 

addition,  burden  our  ears  with  the  odious  repeti- 
tion of  your  deeds,  and  harass  them  with  those 
most  offensive  words, 

"  Cedant  arma  togae,  concedat  laurea  linguae"  ? 

As  if  you  had  perpetrated  the  deeds  of  which  you 
boast  with  the  aid  of  the  toga,  and  not  with  arms, 
or  as  if  there  were  any  difference  between  you  and 
Sulla  the  dictator,  except  in  your  title  of  authority. 
But  why  should  I  expose  your  presumption, 
when  you  yourselfpretend  that  Minerva  has  taught 
you  all  arts,  and  when  the  good  and  great  Jupiter 
has  admitted  you  to  the  council  of  the  gods,  and 
Italy  brought  you  back  from  exile  on  her  shoulders  ? 
Let  me  ask  you,  O  Romulus  of  Arpinum,  you  who, 
in  your  extraordinary  merit,  have  surpassed  all  the 
Paulli,  Fabii,  and  Scipios,  what  place  do  you  hold 
in  the  State,  what  party  in  the  Republic  suits  you  ? 
Whom  do  you  choose  as  a  friend,  whom  as  an 
enemy  ?  Him  for  whom  you  laid  a  plot  in  the 
State  you  now  serve.  With  what  justice,  when 
you  returned  from  your  exile  at  Dyrrhachium,  did 
you  follow  him  ?  Of  those  whom  you  called  ty- 
rants you  now  support  the  power ;  those  whom 
you  thought  men  of  honor  you  now  call  fools  and 
madmen.  You  plead  the  cause  of  Vatinius  ;  you 
have  a  bad  opinion  of  Sextius ;  you  assail  Bibu- 
lus  with  the  most  insolent  language ;  you  extol 
Cassar ;  whomsoever  you  most  hated,  to  him  you 


Declamation  Against  Cicero 


8i 


are  the  most  submissive  ;  you  have  one  opinion  on 
political  affairs  when  you  are  standing,  and  you 
have  another  when  you  are  sitting ;  some  you 
slander,  and  others  you  hate ;  and,  O  most  fickle 
of  renegades,  you  are  trusted  neither  by  one  party 
nor  by  the  other. 


VOL.  n. 


Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 

-6. 


TITUS  LIVIUS  PATAVINUS 

Titus  Livius  Patavinus,  commonly  called  Titus  Livius,  was 
born  of  noble  parentage  in  59  or  57  B.C.,  in  the  city  of  Pata- 
vium  (Padua).  Despite  the  fact  that  he  was  the  most  eloquent 
historian  of  Rome,  we  know  nothing  of  his  early  life.  When 
he  arrived  at  maturity  we  find  him  at  Padua,  studying  phi- 
losophy, teaching  rhetoric,  and  publicly  declaiming.  In  middle 
life  he  established  himself  at  Rome,  and  there  attained  great 
eminence.  His  fame  was  by  no  means  local,  but  extended  to 
all  parts  of  the  Empire.  After  a  life  of  which  the  activities 
continued  until  the  last,  Livy  died  at  Rome  in  his  eightieth 
year. 

Livy  was  preeminently  an  orator,  and  his  "talent  for  devel- 
oping an  idea,  for  explaining  events  as  an  orderly  sequence, 
for  establishing  conclusions,  for  moving  the  feelings,  for 
throwing  himself  into  a  cause,  for  clothing  his  arguments  in 
noble  language,  shine  conspicuous  in  his  work,  while  he  has 
the  good  faith,  sincerity,  and  patriotism  which  mark  off  the 
orator  from  a  mere  advocate." 

Livy's  great  work  was  The  History  of  Rome.  This  work 
originally  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  forty-two  books,  of 
which  only  thirty-two  complete  and  five  fragmentary  books 
have  been  preserved.  It  became,  as  soon  as  issued,  the 
authoritative  history  of  Rome.  Every  year  increased  the  high 
regard  in  which  it  was  held.  In  the  pages  of  The  History 
of  Home  we  find  a  score  of  the  most  effective  speeches  that 
have  ever  been  written.  It  is  for  these  oratorical  masterpieces 
that  we  have  given  place  in  this  volume  to  the  great  historian 
and  orator. 

An  excellent  text  of  Livy  is  that  of  Weissenborn  (Leipzig), 
Berlin,  18S3-1878.  Annotated  English  edition  by  George 
Baker,  London,  1779.  A  good  French  edition,  which  is  in 
some  respects  the  best  of  the  translations,  is  that  of  Gaucher, 
Paris,  1877. 

83 


THE  APPEAL  OF  HORATIUS 


Horatius. 


This  is  one  of  the  most  effective  of  the  speeches  of  Livy.  It  is  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Horatius,  whose  three  sons  had  engaged  in  combat  with  the  three  Cu- 
riatii,  the  champions  of  the  Etruscans.  The  conflict  was  to  decide  whether  Rome 
or  Tuscany  should  rule.  The  three  Curiatii  were  slain,  hut  with  them  fell  two 
of  the  Horatii.  The  survivor  returning  proudly,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the 
vanquished,  was  met  by  his  sister,  whose  betrothed  one  of  the  Curiatii  had 
been.  She  reviled  the  victorious  youth,  and  he,  in  an  outburst  of  passion, 
killed  her.  He  was  tried  for  his  life.  His  condemnation  was  about  to  be  spoken 
when  his  father  appealed  from  the  judges  to  the  people.  Then  he  spoke  to  the 
waiting  multitude  with  such  success  that  his  son  was  saved. 

ROMANS,  can  you  bear  to  see  bound  beneath 
a  gallows,  amidst  scourges  and  tortures,  him 
whom  you  just  now  beheld  marching  decorated 
and  exulting  in  victory  ;  a  sight  so  shocking  as  the 
eyes  even  of  the  Albans  could  scarcely  endure  ? 
Go,  lictor,  bind  those  hands,  which,  but  a  little 
while  since,  being  armed,  established  sovereignty 
for  the  Roman  people.  Go,  cover  the  head  of  the 
liberator  of  this  city  ;  hang  him  on  the  gallows  ; 
scourge  him,  either  within  the  pomoerium,  so  it  be 
only  amid  those  javelins  and  spoils  of  the  enemy  ; 
or  without  the  pomoerium,  only  amid  the  graves 

85 


86 


Horatius 


of  the  Curiatii.  For  whither  can  you  bring  this 
youth  where  his  own  glories  must  not  redeem 
him  from  such  ignominy  of  punishment  ? 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  THE  TRIBUNES 


Appiiis  Claudius. 

The  war  against  Veii  (405-396  B.c.)had  lasted  many  weeks,  for  the  strength 
of  the  city  was  so  great  that  the  Roman  generals  thought  an  assault  might  result 
in  failure.  Plans  for  a  winter  siege  were  made.  Such  prolonged  and  difficult 
service  was  contrary  to  Roman  custom.  The  tribunes  of  the  people  feared  that 
the  result  would  be  a  standing  army,  the  destruction  of  the  hardly-won  Plebeian 
privileges,  and  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Patricians.  They  endeavored  to  incite 
the  people  to  resist  the  proposed  plan  of  campaign.  The  military  tribunes,  with 
consular  powers,  in  whose  hands  was  the  conduct  of  the  war,  had  anticipated 
this  action  of  the  tribunes  of  the  peopl:,  and  left  their  colleague  Appius  Claudius 
to  check  any  demonstration.  He  waited  until  his  opponents  had  spoken,  and 
then  he  is  reported  by  Livy  to  have  delivered  the  following  address: 

IF,  Romans,  there  was  ever  reason  to  doubt 
whether  the  tribunes  of  the  people  have  ever 
promoted  sedition  for  your  sake  or  their  own,  I  am 
certain  that  in  the  course  of  this  year  that  doubt 
must  have  ceased  to  exist ;  and  while  I  rejoice  that 
an  end  has  at  length  been  put  to  a  mistake  of  such 
long  continuance,  I  also  congratulate  you,  and  on 
your  account  the  Republic,  that  this  delusion  has 
been  removed  during  a  course  of  prosperous  events. 
Is  there  any  person  who  can  feel  a  doubt  that  the 
tribunes  of  the  commons  were  never  so  highly  dis- 
pleased and  provoked  by  any  wrongs  done  to  you, 

87 


88  Appius  Claudius 

if  ever  such  did  happen,  as  by  the  munificence  of 
the  patricians  to  the  commons,  when  pay  was 
established  for  those  serving  in  the  army  ?  What 
else  do  you  suppose  that  they  either  then  dreaded, 
or  now  wish  to  disturb,  except  the  union  between 
the  orders,  which  they  think  contributes  most  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  tribunitian  power  ?  Thus,  by 
Jupiter !  like  workers  in  iniquity,  they  are  seeking 
employment,  they  who  also  wish  that  there  should 
be  always  some  diseased  part  in  the  Republic,  that 
there  may  be  something  for  the  cure  of  which  they 
may  be  employed  by  you.  For  [tribunes,]  do  you 
defend  or  attack  the  commons  ?  Are  you  the  ene- 
mies of  those  in  the  service,  or  do  you  plead  their 
cause  ?  Unless  perhaps  you  say,  whatever  the 
patricians  do  displeases  us ;  whether  it  is  for  the 
commons,  or  against  the  commons ;  and  just  as 
masters  forbid  their  slaves  to  have  any  dealings 
with  those  belonging  to  others,  and  deem  it  right 
that  they  should  equally  refrain  from  having  any 
commerce  with  them,  either  for  kindness  or  unkind- 
ness,  ye,  in  like  manner,  interdict  us,  the  patri- 
cians, from  all  intercourse  with  the  people,  lest  by 
our  courtesy  and  munificence  we  may  challenge 
their  regard,  and  they  become  tractable  and  obe- 
dient to  our  direction.  And  if  there  were  in  you 
anything  of  the  feelings,  1  say  not  of  fellow-citi- 
zens, but  of  human  beings,  how  much  more  ought 
you  to  favor  and,  as  far  as  in  you  lay,  to  promote 


Against  the  Tribunes  89 

the  kindly  demeanor  of  the  patricians  and  the  tract- 
ability  of  the  commons  !  And  if  such  concord  were 
once  permanent,  who  would  not  venture  to  guar- 
antee that  this  Empire  would  in  a  short  time  become 
far  superior  to  the  neighboring  States  ? 

I  shall  hereafter  explain  to  you  how  not  merely 
expedient,  but  even  necessary,  has  been  this  plan 
of  my  colleagues,  according  to  which  they  could 
not  draw  off  the  army  from  Veil  until  the  affair  had 
been  completed.  For  the  present,  I  am  disposed  to 
speak  concerning  the  condition  of  the  soldiers. 
And  these  observations  of  mine  1  think  would  be 
reasonable  not  only  in  your  opinion,  but,  if  they 
were  delivered  in  the  camp,  even  in  the  opinion  of 
the  soldiers  themselves  ;  on  which  subject,  if  noth- 
ing could  suggest  itself  to  my  own  mind  to  say,  1 
certainly  should  be  satisfied  with  what  is  suggested 
by  the  arguments  of  my  adversaries.  They  lately 
said  that  pay  should  not  be  given  to  the  soldiers 
because  it  had  never  been  given.  How,  then,  can 
they  now  feel  displeased  that  additional  labor  should 
be  imposed  in  due  proportion  on  those  to  whom 
some  addition  of  profit  has  been  added  ?  In  no  case 
is  there  either  labor  without  emolument,  or  emolu- 
ment in  general  without  the  expense  of  labor.  Toil 
and  pleasure,  in  their  natures  most  unlike,  are  yet 
linked  together  by  a  sort  of  natural  connection. 
Formerly,  the  soldier  thought  it  a  hardship  that  he 
gave  his  labor  to  the  Commonwealth  at  his  own 


90  Appius  Claudius 

expense  ;  at  the  same  time  lie  was  glad  to  have  a 
part  of  the  year  to  till  his  own  ground  ;  to  acquire 
that  means  by  which  he  might  support  himself  and 
his  family  at  home  and  in  war.  Now,  he  feels 
pleasure  that  the  Republic  is  a  source  of  advantage 
to  him,  and  gladly  receives  his  pay.  Let  him 
therefore  bear  with  patience  that  he  is  a  little  longer 
absent  from  home  and  his  family  affairs,  to  which 
no  heavy  expense  is  now  attached.  But  if  the 
Commonwealth  should  call  him  to  a  settlement  of 
accounts,  would  it  not  justly  say,  "You  are  paid  by 
the  year,  perform  labor  by  the  year ;  do  you  think 
it  just  to  receive  a  whole  year's  pay  for  six  months' 
service  ?  "  Romans,  with  reluctance  do  I  dwell  on 
this  topic  ;  for  so  ought  to  proceed  they  who  em- 
ploy mercenary  troops.  But  we  wish  to  treat  as 
with  fellow-citizens,  and  we  think  it  only  just  that 
you  treat  with  us  as  with  the  country.  Either  the 
war  should  not  have  been  undertaken,  or  it  ought 
to  be  conducted  suitably  to  the  dignity  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  and  brought  to  a  close  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. But  it  will  be  brought  to  a  close  if  we  press 
on  the  besieged  ;  if  we  do  not  retire  until  we  have 
consummated  our  hopes  by  the  capture  of  Veii. 
In  truth,  if  there  were  no  other  motive,  the  very 
discredit  of  the  thing  should  impose  on  us  perse- 
verance. In  former  times,  on  account  of  one 
woman,  a  city  was  for  ten  years  besieged  by  all 
Greece.    At  what  a  distance  from  their  homes  I 


Against  the  Tribunes  91 

how  many  lands,  how  many  seas  intervened  !  We 
grumble  at  enduring  a  siege  of  a  year's  duration 
within  twenty  miles  of  us,  almost  within  sight  of 
own  city  ;  because,  I  suppose,  the  cause  of  the  war 
is  trifling,  nor  is  there  resentment  sufficiently  just 
to  stimulate  us  to  persevere.  Seven  times  have 
the  Veientes  rebelled  ;  in  peace  they  never  acted 
faithfully.  They  have  laid  waste  our  lands  a  thou- 
sand times  ;  they  forced  the  Fidenatians  to  revolt 
against  us  ;  they  have  put  to  death  our  colonists 
there  ;  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  they  have 
been  the  instigators  of  the  impious  murder  of  our 
ambassadors  ;  they  wished  to  excite  all  Etruria 
against  us,  and  are  at  this  day  busily  employed  in 
this  ;  and  they  scarcely  refrained  from  violating  our 
ambassadors  when  demanding  restitution.  With 
such  people,  ought  war  to  be  conducted  in  a  remiss 
and  dilatory  manner  ? 

If  such  just  resentment  have  no  influence  with 
us,  will  you  not,  1  entreat  you,  let  the  following 
considerations  influence  you  ?  The  enemy's  city 
has  been  enclosed  with  immense  works,  by  which 
they  are  confined  within  their  walls.  They  have 
not  tilled  their  land,  and  what  was  previously  tilled 
has  been  laid  waste  in  the  war.  If  we  withdraw 
our  army,  who  can  doubt  that  they  will  invade 
our  territory,  not  only  from  a  desire  of  revenge, 
but  from  the  necessity  also  imposed  on  them  of 
plundering  the  property  of  others,  since  they  have 


92  Appius  Claudius 

lost  their  own  ?  By  such  measures,  then,  we  do 
not  put  off  the  war,  but  admit  it  within  our  own 
frontiers. 

What  shall  I  say  of  that  which  properly  interests 
the  soldiers,  for  whose  interests  those  worthy 
tribunes  of  the  commons  are  now  suddenly  so 
anxious  to  provide,  after  they  have  endeavored  to 
wrest  their  pay  from  them  ?  How  does  the  matter 
stand  ?  They  have  formed  a  rampart  and  a  trench, 
both  works  of  great  labor  on  account  of  the  great 
extent  of  ground  ;  they  have  erected  forts,  at  first 
only  a  few,  afterwards  very  many,  when  the  army 
became  increased  ;  they  have  raised  ramparts,  not 
only  towards  the  city,  but  towards  Etruria  also, 
against  any  succors  which  may  come  thence. 
What  need  is  there  to  mention  towers,  vinae,  tes- 
tudines,  and  the  other  apparatus  used  in  attacking 
towns  ?  When  so  much  labor  has  been  expended, 
and  they  have  now  at  length  reached  the  end  of 
the  work,  do  you  think  that  all  these  preparations 
should  be  abandoned  in  order  that,  next  summer, 
the  same  course  of  toil  may  have  to  be  again  un- 
dergone in  forming  them  anew  ?  How  much  less 
trouble  to  maintain  the  works  already  completed, 
to  press  on  and  persevere,  and  to  get  rid  of  our 
task !  For  certainly  the  matter  will  be  of  short 
duration,  if  it  be  conducted  with  a  uniform  course 
of  exertions ;  nor  do  we  by  these  intermissions 
and  interruptions  expedite  the  attainment  of  our 


Against  the  Tribunes  93 

hopes.  1  am  now  speaking  of  labor  and  of  loss 
of  time.  What !  do  these  so  frequent  meetings  in 
Etruria  on  the  subject  of  sending  aid  to  Veil  permit 
us  to  disregard  the  danger  which  we  encounter 
by  procrastinating  the  war  ?  As  matters  now 
stand,  the  Etruscans  are  incensed,  they  dislike  the 
Veientes,  they  refuse  to  send  any  aid ;  as  far  as 
they  are  concerned,  we  are  at  liberty  to  take  Veii. 
Who  can  promise  that  their  temper  will  be  the 
same  hereafter  if  the  war  is  suspended  ?  When, 
if  you  suffer  any  relaxation,  more  respectable  and 
more  frequent  embassies  will  go  to  Etruria  ;  when 
that  which  now  displeases  the  Etruscans,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  king  at  Veii,  may,  after  an  interval, 
be  done  away  with,  either  by  the  joint  determina- 
tion of  the  State  that  they  may  recover  the  good- 
will of  the  Etruscans,  or  by  a  voluntary  act  of  the 
king,  who  may  be  unwilling  that  his  reign  should 
stand  in  the  way  of  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen. 
See  how  many  and  what  detrimental  circum- 
stances follow  that  line  of  conduct :  the  loss  of 
works  formed  with  so  great  labor ;  the  threatening 
devastation  of  our  frontiers  ;  an  Etruscan  feud  ex- 
cited instead  of  a  Veientine  war.  These,  O  trib- 
unes, are  your  measures,  much  the  same,  in  truth, 
as  if  a  person  for  the  sake  of  present  meat  or  drink 
should  render  a  disease  tedious  and  perhaps  incur- 
able in  a  patient  who,  by  resolutely  suffering  himself 
to  be  treated,  might  soon  have  recovered  his  health. 


t 

94  Appius  Claudius 

If,  by  Jupiter !  it  were  of  no  consequence  with 
respect  to  the  present  war,  yet  it  certainly  would 
be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  military  discipline 
that  our  soldiers  should  be  accustomed  not  only  to 
enjoy  the  victory  obtained  by  them,  but,  even 
though  matters  should  proceed  more  slowly  than 
was  anticipated,  to  brook  the  tediousness  and 
await  the  issue  of  their  hopes,  however  tardy  ;  and 
if  the  war  be  not  finished  in  the  summer,  to  wait 
for  the  winter,  and  not,  like  summer  birds,  in  the 
very  commencement  of  autumn  look  out  for  shelter 
and  a  retreat.  The  eagerness  and  pleasure  of  hunt- 
ing hurries  men  into  snow  and  frost,  over  mountains 
and  woods  ;  shall  we  not  employ  in  the  exigencies 
of  war  that  patience  which  even  sport  and  pleasure 
are  wont  to  call  forth  ?  Are  we  to  suppose  that 
the  bodies  of  our  soldiers  are  so  effeminate,  their 
minds  so  feeble,  that  they  cannot  hold  out  for  one 
winter  in  a  camp,  and  be  absent  from  home  ?  that, 
like  persons  who  wage  a  naval  war  by  taking 
advantage  of  the  weather  and  observing  the  sea- 
son of  the  year,  they  are  able  to  endure  neither 
heat  nor  cold  ?  They  would  certainly  blush, 
should  any  one  lay  these  things  to  their  charge  ;  and 
would  maintain  that  both  their  minds  and  their 
bodies  were  possessed  of  manly  endurance  ;  that 
they  were  able  to  conduct  war  equally  well  in 
summer  and  in  winter ;  that  they  had  not  con- 
signed to  the  tribunes  the  patronage  of  indolence 


Aeainst  the  Tribunes  95 


and  sloth,  and  that  they  remembered  that  their 
ancestors  had  created  this  very  power  neither  in 
the  shade  nor  beneath  their  own  roofs.  Such  sen- 
timents are  worthy  of  the  valor  of  your  soldiers, 
such  sentiments  are  worthy  of  the  Roman  name, 
not  to  consider  merely  Veii,  nor  this  war  which  is 
nov/  pressing  us,  but  to  seek  a  reputation  for  the 
future  for  other  wars  and  in  other  States.  Do  you 
consider  the  difference  of  opinion  likely  to  result 
from  this  matter  as  something  trivial  ?  Pray,  are 
the  neighboring  States  to  suppose  that  the  Roman 
people  are  such  that  if  any  one  should  sustain  their 
first  assault,  and  that  of  very  short  continuance, 
they  have  nothing  afterwards  to  fear  ?  Or  should 
such  be  the  terror  of  our  name  that  neither  the 
tediousness  of  a  distant  siege  nor  the  inclemency 
of  winter  can  dislodge  the  Roman  army  from  a 
city  once  invested,  that  they  know  no  other  ter- 
mination of  war  than  victory,  and  that  they  carry 
on  wars  not  more  by  briskness  than  by  persever- 
ance ?  This  perseverance  is  doubtless  necessary  in 
every  kind  of  war,  but  more  especially  in  besieging 
cities  ;  most  of  which,  though  impregnable  both  by 
their  works  and  by  natural  situation,  time  itself 
overpowers  and  reduces  by  famine  and  thirst ;  as 
it  will  reduce  Veii,  unless  the  tribunes  of  the  com- 
mons shall  afford  aid  to  the  enemy,  and  the 
Veientes  find  in  Rome  reinforcements  which  they 
seek  in  vain  in  Etruria. 


96  Appius  Claudius 

Is  there  anything  which  can  happen  so  much  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Veientes  as  that 
first  the  Roman  city,  then  the  camp,  as  it  were  by 
contagion,  should  be  filled  with  sedition  ?  But,  by 
Jupiter!  so  forbearing  a  state  of  mind  prevails  among 
the  enemy  that  not  a  single  change  has  taken  place 
among  them,  either  through  disgust  at  the  length 
of  the  siege  or  even  of  the  kingly  form  of  govern- 
ment ;  nor  has  the  refusal  of  aid  by  the  Etruscans 
aroused  their  tempers.  For,  among  them,  whoever 
may  be  the  abettor  of  sedition  will  be  instantly 
put  to  death  ;  nor  will  it  be  permitted  to  any  one 
to  utter  those  sentiments  which  amongst  you  are 
expressed  with  impunity.  He  who  forsakes  his 
colors  or  quits  his  post  is  sure  to  receive  the  basti- 
nado. Persons  advising  not  one  or  two  soldiers, 
but  whole  armies,  to  relinquish  their  colors,  or  to 
forsake  their  camp,  are  openly  listened  to  in  your 
public  assemblies.  Accordingly  you  are  accus- 
tomed to  hear  with  partiality  whatever  a  trib- 
une of  the  people  says,  although  it  tends  to  the 
ruin  of  the  country  or  the  dissolution  of  the  Com- 
monwealth ;  and,  captivated  with  the  charms  of 
that  authority,  you  suffer  all  sorts  of  crimes  to  lie 
concealed  beneath  it.  The  only  thing  that  remains 
is,  that  that  which  they  vociferate  here,  the  same 
projects  do  they  realize  in  the  camp  and  among  the 
soldiers  ;  and  so  they  seduce  the  armies,  and  do  not 
suffer  them  to  obey  their  officers,  since  that,  and 


Against  the  Tribunes 


97 


that  only,  is  liberty  in  Rome  :  to  show  no  deference 
to  the  Senate,  nor  to  magistrates,  nor  to  laws,  nor 
to  the  customs  of  ancestors,  nor  to  the  institutions 
of  our  fathers,  nor  to  military  discipline. 


VOL.   II.— 7. 


Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


ON  TREATING  WITH  THE  SAMNITES 

Lucius  Lentulus. 

The  Romans  from  326  to  304  b.c.  were  engaged  in  the  Second  Samnite  War. 
In  321  B.C.  two  consuls  with  their  armies  had  been  entrapped  within  the  Caudine 
Pass.  They  were  forced  to  enter  into  a  treaty,  to  give  six  hundred  hostages,  and, 
together  with  their  forces,  go  under  the  yoke  as  a  token  of  submission.  But  all 
this  was  not  done  without  remonstrance  from  the  bravest  of  the  Romans.  Livy 
makes  Lucius  Lentulus,  one  of  the  leaders  next  in  rank  to  the  consuls,  overcome 
the  opposition  in  the  following  words  : 


CONSULS,  I  have  often  heard  my  father  say 
that  he  was  the  only  man  in  the  Capitol 
who  did  not  advise  the  senators  to  ransom  the 
State  from  the  Gauls  with  gold  ;  and  he  would  not 
concur  in  this  because  they  had  not  been  enclosed 
with  a  trench  and  rampart  by  the  enemy  (who 
were  remarkably  slothful  with  respect  to  works  and 
raising  fortifications),  and  because  they  might  sally 
forth,  if  not  without  great  danger,  yet  without  cer- 
tain destruction.  Now  if,  in  like  manner  as  they 
had  it  in  their  power  to  rush  in  arms  from  the 
Capitol  against  their  foe,  as  men  besieged  have 
often  sallied  out  on  the  besiegers,  so  it  were  possi- 
ble for  us  to  come  to  blows  with  the  enemy,  either 

98 


On  Treating  with  the  Samnites  99 

on  equal  or  on  unequal  ground,  1  would  not  be 
wanting  in  the  high  quality  of  my  father's  spirit  in 
stating  my  advice.  1  acknowledge,  indeed,  that 
death  in  defence  of  our  country  is  highly  glo- 
rious ;  and  1  am  ready  either  to  devote  myself  for 
the  Roman  people  and  the  legions,  or  to  plunge 
into  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  But  in  this  spot  1 
behold  my  country  ;  in  this  spot  I  behold  the 
whole  of  the  Roman  legions :  and  unless  these 
choose  to  rush  on  death  in  defence  of  their  own 
individual  characters,  what  is  there  which  can  be 
preserved  by  their  death  ?  The  houses  of  the 
city,  some  may  say,  and  the  walls  of  it,  and  the 
crowd  dwelling  in  it,  by  whom  the  city  is  inhab- 
ited. But  in  fact,  in  case  of  the  destruction  of  this 
army,  all  these  are  betrayed,  not  preserved.  For 
who  will  protect  them  ?  An  unwarlike  and  un- 
armed multitude,  shall  I  suppose  ?  Yes,  just  as 
they  defended  them  against  the  attacks  of  the 
Gauls.  Will  they  call  to  their  succor  an  army 
from  Veil,  with  Camillus  at  its  head  ?  Here,  on 
the  spot,  are  our  hopes  and  strength  ;  by  preserv- 
ing them  we  preserve  our  country  ;  by  delivering 
them  to  death,  we  abandon  and  betray  our  country. 
But  to  surrender  is  shameful  and  ignominious. 
True ;  but  such  ought  to  be  our  affection  for  our 
country  that  we  should  save  it  by  our  own  dis- 
grace, if  necessity  required,  as  freely  as  by  our 
death.    Let,  therefore,  that  indignity  be  undergone, 


lOO 


Lucius  Lentulus 


howsoever  great,  and  let  us  submit  to  that  neces- 
sity which  even  the  gods  themselves  do  not  over- 
come. Go,  consuls,  ransom  for  arms  the  State 
which  your  ancestors  ransomed  with  gold. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


SCIPIO  TO  HIS  SOLDIERS 

p.  Cornelius  Scipio. 

During  the  Second  Punic  War  (218-201  b.c.)  Hannibal,  the  greatest  general  of 
the  Carthaginians,  made  his  daring  campaign  in  Italy.  He  crossed  the  Pyrenees 
with  fifty  thousand  foot,  nine  thousand  horse,  and  thirty-seven  elephants.  He 
was  opposed  by  the  Roman  consul,  P.  Cornelius  Scipio.  The  first  important  bat- 
tle upon  Italian  soil  between  the  Carthaginians  led  by  Hannibal  and  the  Romans 
under  Scipio,  was  the  cavalry  engagement  (September,  218  b.c.)  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ticinus,  one  of  the  northern  branches  of  the  Po.  It  resulted  in  the  defeat 
of  Scipio.  Before  the  battle  Scipio  is  said  to  have  addressed  his  soldiers  in  the 
following  stirring  words,  which  form  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Roman 
military  orations  : 


IF,  soldiers,  I  were  leading  out  to  battle  that  army 
which  I  had  with  me  in  Gaul,  I  should  have 
thought  it  superfluous  to  address  you  ;  for  of  what 
use  would  it  be  to  exhort  either  those  horsemen 
who  so  gloriously  vanquished  the  cavalry  of  the 
enemy  at  the  river  Rhone,  or  those  legions  with 
whom,  pursuing  this  very  enemy  flying  before  us, 
I  obtained,  in  lieu  of  victory,  a  confession  of  supe- 
riority, shown  by  his  retreat  and  refusal  to  flght  ? 
But  now  because  that  army,  levied  for  the  province 
of  Spain,  maintains  the  war  under  my  auspices  and 
the  command  of  my  brother,  Cneius  Scipio,  in  the 

lOI 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


I02  Scipio 

country  where  the  Senate  and  the  people  of  Rome 
wished  him  to  serve  ;  and  since  I  have  offered  my- 
self voluntarily  for  this  contest,  that  you  might 
have  a  consul  for  your  leader  against  Hannibal  and 
the  Carthaginians,  a  few  words  are  required  to 
be  addressed  from  a  new  commander  to  soldiers 
unacquainted  with  him. 

That  you  may  not  be  ignorant  of  the  nature  either 
of  the  war  or  of  the  enemy,  let  me  remind  you, 
soldiers,  that  you  have  to  fight  with  those  whom  in 
the  former  war  you  conquered  both  by  land  and 
sea ;  from  whom  you  have  exacted  tribute  for 
twenty  years ;  from  whom  you  hold  Sicily  and 
Sardinia,  taken  as  the  prizes  of  victory.  In  the 
present  contest,  therefore,  you  and  they  will  have 
those  feelings  which  are  wont  to  belong  to  the 
victors  and  the  vanquished.  They  are  now  about 
to  fight,  not  because  they  are  daring,  but  because 
it  is  unavoidable ;  unless  you  can  believe  that 
those  who  declined  the  engagement  when  their 
forces  were  entire  should  have  now  gained  more 
confidence  when  two  thirds  of  their  infantry  and 
cavalry  have  been  lost  in  the  passage  of  the  Alps, 
and  when  almost  greater  numbers  have  perished 
than  survive.  Yes,  they  are  few,  indeed  (some 
may  say),  but  they  are  vigorous  in  mind  and 
body  ;  men  whose  strength  and  power  almost  no 
force  may  withstand.  On  the  contrary,  they  are 
but   the  semblances,   nay,  they  are   rather   the 


To  his  Soldiers  lo 


o 


shadows  of  men  ;  for  they  are  worn  out  with 
hunger,  cold,  dirt,  and  filth,  and  bruised  and  en- 
feebled among  stones  and  rocks.  Besides  all  this, 
their  joints  are  frost-bitten,  their  sinews  stiffened 
with  the  snow,  their  limbs  withered  up  by  the 
frost,  their  armor  battered  and  gaping,  their  horses 
lame  and  powerless.  With  such  cavalry,  with 
such  infantry,  you  have  to  fight ;  you  will  not 
have  enemies  in  reality,  but  rather  their  last  re- 
mains. And  I  fear  nothing  more  than  that  when 
you  have  fought  Hannibal,  the  Alps  may  appear  to 
have  conquered  him.  But  perhaps  it  was  fitting 
that  the  gods  themselves  should,  without  any 
human  aid,  commence  and  carry  forward  a  war 
against  a  leader  and  a  people  who  violate  the  faith 
of  treaties;  and  that  we,  who  have  been. injured 
next  to  the  gods,  should  finish  the  contest  thus 
commenced  and  now  nearly  completed. 

I  do  not  fear  lest  any  one  should  think  that  1  say 
this  ostentatiously  for  the  sake  of  encouraging  you, 
while  in  my  own  mind  I  am  differently  affected. 
I  was  at  liberty  to  go  with  my  army  into  Spain, 
my  own  province,  whither  1  had  already  set  out. 
There  I  should  have  had  a  brother  as  a  sharer  of 
my  councils  and  my  dangers,  and  Hasdrubal  for 
my  antagonist,  and  without  question  a  less  labori- 
ous war.  Nevertheless,  as  1  sailed  along  the  coast 
of  Gaul,  I  landed  on  hearing  of  this  enemy,  and 
having  sent  forward  the  cavalry,  I  moved  my  camp 


I04  Scipio 

to  the  Rhone,  hi  a  battle  of  cavalry,  for  with  that 
part  of  my  forces  the  opportunity  was  afforded  of 
engaging,  I  routed  the  enemy  ;  and  because  I 
could  not  overtake  by  land  his  army  of  infantry, 
which  was  rapidly  hurried  away  as  if  in  flight, 
having  returned  to  the  ships  with  all  the  speed 
I  could,  after  compassing  such  an  extent  of  sea 
and  land,  I  have  met  him  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 
Do  1  appear  to  have  fallen  in  unexpectedly  with 
this  dreaded  foe  while  declining  the  contest,  or  to 
encounter  him  in  his  track,  to  challenge  him  and 
drag  him  out  to  decide  the  contest  ?  I  am  anxious 
to  try  whether  the  earth  has  suddenly,  in  these 
twenty  years,  sent  forth  a  new  race  of  Carthagin- 
ians, or  whether  these  are  the  same  who  fought 
at  the  islands  of  Agates,  and  whom  you  permitted 
to  depart  from  Eryx,  valued  at  eighteen  denarii 
a  head  ;  and  whether  this  Hannibal  be,  as  he  him- 
self gives  out,  the  rival  of  the  expeditions  of  Hercu- 
les, or  one  left  by  his  father  the  tributary,  the 
subject  and  the  slave  of  the  Roman  people  ;  who, 
if  his  guilt  at  Saguntum  did  not  drive  him  to 
frenzy,  would  certainly  reflect,  if  not  upon  his 
conquered  country,  at  least  on  his  family,  his 
father,  and  the  treaties  written  by  the  hand  of 
Hamilcar ;  who,  at  the  command  of  our  consul, 
withdrew  the  garrison  from  Eryx  ;  who,  indig- 
nant and  grieving,  submitted  to  the  harsh  condi- 
tions imposed  on  the  conquered  Carthaginians  ; 


To  his  Soldiers  105 

who  agreed  to  depart  from  Sicily  and  pay  tribute 
to  the  Roman  people. 

I  would  therefore  have  you  fight,  soldiers,  not 
only  with  that  spirit  with  which  you  are  wont  to 
encounter  other  enemies,  but  with  a  certain  indig- 
nation and  resentment,  as  if  you  saw  your  slaves 
suddenly  taking  up  arms  against  you.  We  might 
have  killed  them,  when  shut  up  in  Eryx,  by 
hunger,  the  most  dreadful  of  human  tortures  ;  we 
might  have  carried  our  victorious  fleet  over  to 
Africa,  and  in  a  few  days  have  destroyed  Carthage 
without  any  opposition.  We  granted  pardon  to 
their  prayers ;  we  released  them  from  the  block- 
ade ;  we  made  peace  with  them  when  conquered  ; 
and  we  afterwards  considered  them  under  our  pro- 
tection when  they  were  oppressed  by  the  African 
war.  In  return  for  these  benefits,  they  come, 
under  the  command  of  a  furious  youth,  to  attack 
our  country.  And  1  wish  that  the  contest  on  your 
side  was  for  glory,  and  not  for  safety.  It  is  not 
about  the  possession  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  con- 
cerning which  the  dispute  was  formerly,  but  for 
Italy,  that  you  must  fight ;  nor  is  there  another 
army  behind,  which,  if  we  should  not  conquer, 
can  resist  the  enemy ;  nor  are  there  other  Alps, 
during  the  passage  of  which  fresh  forces  may  be 
procured.  Here,  soldiers,  we  must  make  our  stand, 
as  if  we  fought  beneath  the  walls  of  Rome.  Let 
every  one   consider  that    he    defends   with   his 


io6 


Scipio 


weapons  not  only  his  own  person,  but  his  wife 
and  young  children  ;  nor  let  him  only  entertain 
domestic  cares  and  anxieties,  but  at  the  same  time 
let  him  bear  in  mind  that  the  Senate  and  people 
of  Rome  are  now  anxiously  regarding  our  efforts  ; 
and  that,  according  to  what  our  strength  and  valor 
shall  be,  such  henceforward  will  be  the  fortune  of 
that  city  and  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


HANNIBAL  TO  HIS  SOLDIERS 

Hannibal. 

The  companion  address  to  that  of  Scipio  To  his  Soldiers  is  that  of  Hannibal 
To  his  Soldiers,  before  the  same  engagement  at  the  Ticinus.     Livy  says  : 

"  Hannibal,  thinking  that  his  soldiers  ought  to  be  roused  by  deeds  rather  than 
by  words,  having  drawn  his  army  around  for  the  spectacle,  placed  in  their  midst 
the  captive  mountaineers  in  fetters  ;  and  after  Gallic  arms  had  been  thrown  at 
their  feet,  he  ordered  the  interpreter  to  ask,  '  whether  any  among  them,  on  con- 
dition of  being  released  from  chains,  and  receiving,  if  victorious,  armor  and  a 
horse,  was  willing  to  fight  with  the  sword  ? '  When  they  all,  to  a  man,  de- 
manded the  combat  and  the  sword,  and  lots  were  cast  into  the  urn  for  that  pur- 
pose, each  wished  himself  the  person  whom  fortune  might  select  for  the  contest. 
As  the  lot  of  each  man  came  out,  eager  and  exulting  with  joy  amidst  the  con- 
gratulations of  his  comrades,  and  dancing  after  the  national  custom,  he  hastily 
snatched  up  the  arms  ;  but  when  they  fought,  such  was  the  state  of  feeling,  not 
only  among  their  companions  in  the  same  circumstances,  but  among  the  specta- 
tors in  general,  that  the  fortune  of  those  who  conquered  was  not  praised  more 
than  that  of  those  who  died  bravely. 

"  When  he  had  dismissed  the  soldiers,  thus  affected  after  viewing  several  pairs 
of  combatants,  having  then  summoned  an  assembly,  he  is  said  to  have  addressed 
them  in  these  terms  "  : 


IF,  soldiers,  you  shall  by  and  by,  in  judging  of 
your  own  fortune,  preserve  the  same  feelings 
which  you  experienced  a  little  before  in  the  exam- 
ple of  the  fate  of  others,  we  shall  have  already  con- 
quered ;  for  neither  was  that  merely  a  spectacle, 
but,  as  it  were,  a  certain  representation  of  your  con- 
dition.   And  1  know  not  whether  fortune  has  not 


107 


ro8  Hannibal 

thrown  around  you  still  stronger  chains  and  more 
urgent  necessities  than  around  your  captives.  On 
the  right  and  left  two  seas  enclose  you,  without  your 
possessing  even  a  single  ship  for  escape.  The  river 
Po  before  you,  the  Po  larger  and  more  impetuous 
than  the  Rhone,  the  Alps  behind,  with  difficulty 
passed  when  you  were  fresh  and  vigorous,  hem 
you  in.  Here,  soldiers,  where  you  first  met  the  en- 
emy, you  must  conquer  or  die  ;  and  the  same  for- 
tune which  has  imposed  the  necessity  of  fighting 
holds  out  to  you,  if  victorious,  rewards  greater  than 
which  men  are  not  wont  to  desire,  even  from  the 
immortal  gods.  If  we  were  only  about  to  recover 
by  our  valor  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  wrested  from  our 
fathers,  the  recompense  would  be  sufficiently  am- 
ple ;  but  whatever,  acquired  and  amassed  by  so 
many  triumphs,  the  Romans  possess,  all,  with  its 
masters  themselves,  will  become  yours.  To  gain 
this  rich  reward,  hasten,  then,  and  seize  your  arms, 
with  the  favor  of  the  gods.  Long  enough,  in  pur- 
suing cattle  among  the  desert  mountains  of  Lusita- 
nia  and  Celtiberia,  you  have  gained  no  emolument 
from  so  many  toils  and  dangers  ;  it  is  time  to  make 
rich  and  profitable  campaigns,  and  to  gain  the  great 
reward  of  your  labors,  after  having  accomplished 
such  a  length  of  journey  over  so  many  mountains 
and  rivers,  and  so  many  nations  in  arms.  Here 
fortune  has  granted  you  the  termination  of  your 
labors  ;  here  she  will  bestow  a  reward  worthy  of 


To  his  Soldiers  109 

the  service  you  have  undergone.  Nor  ought  you 
to  consider  that  the  victory  will  be  difficult  in  pro- 
portion as  the  war  is  great  in  name.  A  despised 
enemy  has  often  maintained  a  sanguinary  contest, 
and  renowned  States  and  kings  have  been  con- 
quered by  a  very  slight  effort.  For,  setting  aside 
only  the  splendor  of  the  Roman  name,  what  re- 
mains in  which  they  can  be  compared  to  you  ?  To 
pass  over  in  silence  your  service  for  twenty  years, 
distinguished  by  such  valor  and  success,  you  have 
made  your  way  to  this  place  from  the  pillars  of 
Hercules,  from  the  ocean  and  the  remotest  limits 
of  the  world,  advancing  victorious  through  so  many 
of  the  fiercest  nations  of  Gaul  and  Spain  !  you  will 
fight  against  a  raw  army,  which  this  very  summer 
was  beaten,  conquered,  and  surrounded  by  the 
Gauls,  an  army  as  yet  unknown  to  its  general,  and 
ignorant  of  him.  Shall  I  compare  myself,  almost 
born,  and  certainly  bred  in  the  tent  of  my  father, 
that  most  illustrious  commander,  myself  the  subju- 
gator of  Spain  and  Gaul,  the  conqueror  too  not  only 
of  the  Alpine  nations,  but,  what  is  much  more,  of 
the  Alps  themselves,  with  this  six-months' general, 
the  deserter  from  his  army  ?  to  whom,  if  any  one, 
having  taken  away  their  standards,  should  to-day 
show  the  Carthaginians  and  Romans,  1  am  sure 
that  he  would  not  know  of  which  army  he  was 
consul.  I  do  not  regard  it,  soldiers,  as  of  small 
account  that  there  is  not  a  man  among  you  before 


no  Hannibal 

whose  eyes  I  have  not  often  achieved  some  military 
exploit ;  and  to  whom,  in  like  manner,  I,  as  specta- 
tor and  witness  of  his  valor,  could  not  recount  his 
own  gallant  deeds,  particularized  by  time  and  place. 
With  soldiers  who  have  a  thousand  times  received 
my  praises  and  gifts,  1,  who  was  the  pupil  of  you 
all  before  I  became  your  commander,  will  march 
out  in  battle-array  against  those  who  are  unknown 
to  and  ignorant  of  each  other. 

On  whatever  side  1  turn  my  eyes  I  see  nothing 
but  what  is  full  of  courage  and  energy  ;  a  veteran 
infantry  ;  cavalry,  both  those  with  and  those  with- 
out the  bridle,  composed  of  the  most  gallant  na- 
tions, you,  our  most  faithful  and  valiant  allies,  you, 
Carthaginians,  who  are  about  to  fight  as  well  for 
the  sake  of  your  country  as  from  the  justest  resent- 
ment. We  are  the  assailants  in  the  war,  and  de- 
scend into  Italy  with  hostile  standards,  about  to 
engage  so  much  more  boldly  and  bravely  than  the 
foe  as  the  confidence  and  courage  of  the  assailants 
are  greater  than  those  of  him  who  acts  on  the  de- 
fensive. Besides,  suffering,  injury,  and  indignity 
inflame  and  excite  our  minds  ;  they  first  demanded 
for  punishment  me,  your  leader,  and  then  all  of  you 
who  had  laid  siege  to  Saguntum  ;  and  had  we  been 
given  up  they  would  have  visited  us  with  the  se- 
verest tortures.  That  most  cruel  and  haughty 
nation  considers  everything  its  own,  and  at  its  own 
disposal  ;  it  thinks  it  right  that  it  should  regulate 


To  his  Soldiers  m 

with  whom  we  are  to  have  war,  with  whom  peace  ; 
it  circumscribes  and  shuts  us  up  by  the  boundaries  of 
mountains  and  rivers  which  we  must  not  pass  ;  and 
then  does  not  adhere  to  those  boundaries  which  it 
appointed.  Pass  not  the  Iberus  ;  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  Saguntines.  Saguntum  is  on  the  Ibe- 
rus ;  you  must  not  move  a  step  in  any  direction. 
Is  it  a  small  thing  that  you  take  away  my  most  an- 
cient provinces  Sicily  and  Sardinia  ?  Will  you 
take  Spain  also  ?  and  should  I  withdraw  thence, 
you  will  cross  over  into  Africa — will  cross,  did  I  say? 
They  have  sent  the  two  consuls  of  this  year,  one 
to  Africa,  the  other  to  Spain  !  there  is  nothing  left 
to  us  in  any  quarter,  except  what  we  can  assert  to 
ourselves  by  arms.  Those  may  be  cowards  and 
dastards  who  have  something  to  look  back  upon  ; 
whom,  flying  through  safe  and  unmolested  roads, 
their  own  lands  and  their  own  country  will  receive. 
There  is  a  necessity  for  you  to  be  brave,  and,  since 
all  between  victory  and  death  is  broken  off  from 
you  by  inevitable  despair,  either  to  conquer,  or,  if 
fortune  should  waver,  to  meet  death  in  battle  rather 
than  in  flight.  If  this  be  well  fixed  and  determined 
in  the  minds  of  you  all,  I  will  repeat,  you  have  al- 
ready conquered  ;  no  stronger  incentive  to  victory 
has  ever  been  given  to  man  by  the  immortal  gods. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


ON  RANSOMING  THE  PRISONERS 

Marcus  Junius. 

The  first  years  of  the  Second  Punic  War  were  filled  with  a  succession  of  bril- 
liant Carthaginian  victories.  Ticinus,  Trebici,  Trasimene,  were  bloody  defeats  for 
the  Roman  arms,  but  the  loss  to  them  in  the  three  battles  together  was  trifling 
when  compared  with  the  result  of  the  terrible  defeat  at  Canns  (216  b.c).  There 
seventy  thousand  Romans  were  killed,  and  nine  thousand  either  made  captive  or 
driven  as  fugitives  into  the  wilderness. 

Livy  says  that  Hannibal  treated  the  prisoners  kindly,  dismissed  the  Italians 
without  ransom,  and  offered  the  Romans  their  liberty  upon  terms  that  were  joy- 
fully accepted.  The  prisoners  were  allowed  to  choose  and  send  delegates  to 
Rome  to  secure  their  ransom.  Having  arrived  there,  an  audience  of  the  Senate 
was  granted  by  the  dictator,  and  Marcus  Junius,  the  leader  of  the  delegates,  said: 

THERE  is  not  one  of  us,  Conscript  Fathers,  who 
is  not  aware  that  there  never  was  a  nation 
which  held  prisoners  in  greater  contempt  than  our 
own.  But,  unless  our  own  cause  is  dearer  to  us 
than  it  should  be,  never  did  men  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy  who  less  deserved  to  be  disregarded 
than  we  do  ;  for  we  did  not  surrender  our  arms  in 
battle  through  fear ;  but,  having  prolonged  the  bat- 
tle almost  till  nightfall,  standing  upon  heaps  of  our 
slaughtered  countrymen,  we  betook  ourselves  to 
our  camp.  For  the  remainder  of  the  day  and  dur- 
ing the  following  night,  although  exhausted  with 

112 


On  Ransoming  the  Prisoners  113 

exertions  and  wounds,  we  guarded  our  ramparts. 
On  the  following  day,  when  beset  by  the  enemy, 
we  were  deprived  of  water,  and  there  was  no  hope 
of  breaking  through  the  dense  bands  of  the  foe ; 
and  moreover,  since  we  did  not  consider  it  an  im- 
piety that  any  Roman  soldier  should  survive  the 
battle  of  Cannae,  after  fifty  thousand  of  our  army 
had  been  butchered  we  at  length  agreed  upon 
terms  on  which  we  might  be  ransomed  and  re- 
leased ;  and  our  arms,  in  which  there  was  no  longer 
any  protection,  we  delivered  to  the  enemy.  We 
had  been  informed  that  our  ancestors  also  had  re- 
deemed themselves  from  the  Gauls  with  gold,  and 
that,  though  so  rigid  as  to  the  terms  of  peace,  they 
had  sent  ambassadors  to  Tarentum  for  the  purpose 
of  ransoming  the  captives.  And  yet  both  the  fight 
at  the  Alia  with  the  Gauls,  and  at  Heraclea  with 
Pyrrhus,  were  disgraceful,  not  so  much  on  account 
of  the  loss  as  on  account  of  the  panic  and  flight. 

Heaps  of  Roman  corpses  cover  the  plains  of 
Cannae ;  not  one  of  us  would  have  survived  the 
battle,  had  not  the  enemy  wanted  the  strength  and 
the  swords  to  slay  us.  There  are,  too,  some  of  us 
who  did  not  even  retreat  from  the  field,  but,  being 
left  to  guard  the  camp,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy  when  it  was  surrendered.  For  my  part,  I 
envy  not  the  good  fortune  or  condition  of  any  citi- 
zen or  fellow-soldier,  nor  would  I  endeavor  to 
raise  myself  by  depreciating  another ;  but  not  even 


VOL.  U.— 8 


114  Marcus  Junius 

those  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  leaving  their 
arms,  fled  from  the  field,  and  stopped  not  till  they 
arrived  at  Venusia  or  Canusium  :  not  even  those 
men,  unless  some  reward  is  due  to  them  on  account 
of  their  swiftness  of  foot  and  running,  could  justly 
set  themselves  before  us  or  boast  that  there  is  more 
protection  to  the  State  in  them  than  in  us.  But  you 
will  find  them  to  be  both  good  and  brave  soldiers, 
and  you  will  find  us  still  more  zealous,  because, 
through  your  kindness,  we  shall  have  been  ran- 
somed and  restored  to  our  country.  You  are  levy- 
ing from  every  age  and  condition  ;  I  hear  that 
eight  thousand  slaves  are  being  armed.  We  are  no 
fewer  in  number ;  nor  will  the  expense  of  redeem- 
ing us  be  greater  than  that  of  purchasing  these. 
Should  I  compare  ourselves  with  them,  I  should 
slander  the  name  of  a  Roman. 

1  should  think  also.  Conscript  Fathers,  that  in 
deliberating  on  such  a  measure  it  ought  also  to  be 
considered  (if  you  are  disposed  to  be  over  severe, 
which  you  cannot  be  from  any  demerit  of  ours)  to 
what  sort  of  enemy  you  would  abandon  us.  Is  it 
to  Pyrrhus,  for  instance,  who  treated  us,  when  his 
prisoners,  like  guests ;  or  to  a  barbarian,  to  a  Cartha- 
ginian, of  whom  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether 
his  rapacity  or  cruelty  be  the  greater  ?  If  you  were 
to  see  the  chains,  the  squalid  appearance,  the  loath- 
someness of  your  countrymen,  such  a  spectacle 
would  affect  you,  I  am  confident,  not  less  than  if 


On  Ransoming  the  Prisoners  115 

you  beheld  your  legions  prostrate  on  the  plains  of 
Cannae.  You  may  behold  the  solicitude  and  the 
tears  of  our  kinsmen,  as  they  stand  in  the  lobby  of 
your  Senate-house  and  await  your  verdict.  When 
they  are  in  so  much  suspense  and  anxiety  in  behalf 
of  us  and  those  who  are  absent,  what  think  you 
must  be  our  own  feelings,  whose  lives  and  liberty 
are  at  stake  ?  By  Hercules  !  should  Hannibal  him- 
self, contrary  to  his  nature,  be  disposed  to  be  le- 
nient towards  us,  yet  we  should  not  consider  our 
lives  worth  possessing,  since  we  have  seemed  to 
you  unworthy  of  ransom.  At  a  former  time,  pris- 
oners dismissed  by  Pyrrhus,  without  ransom,  re- 
turned to  Rome  ;  but  they  returned  in  company 
with  ambassadors,  the  chief  men  of  the  State,  who 
were  sent  to  ransom  them.  Would  1  return  to  my 
country,  a  citizen,  when  1  was  not  considered 
worth  three  hundred  denarii  ?  Every  man  has  his 
own  way  of  thinking.  Conscript  Fathers.  I  know 
that  my  life  and  person  are  at  stake.  But  the  dan- 
ger which  threatens  my  reputation  if  we  should  go 
away  rejected  and  condemned  by  you  affects  me 
most  ;  for  men  will  never  suppose  that  you 
merely  grudged  the  price  of  our  redemption. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  RANSOMING  THE  PRISONERS 

Titus  Manlius  Torquatus. 

The  appeal  of  Marcus  Junius  was  answered  by  Titus  Manlius  Torquatus,  to 
whom  Livy  ascribes  the  "  over-righteous  severity  "  of  his  ideal  of  the  primitive 
Roman.  So  effective  was  the  reply  of  Manlius  that  the  captives  were  refused 
ransom,  although  many  of  them  were  nearly  related  to  members  of  the  Senate. 

HAD  the  deputies  confined  themselves  to  mak- 
ing a  request,  in  behalf  of  those  who  are  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  that  they  might  be  ran- 
somed, I  should  have  briefly  given  my  opinion 
without  inveighing  against  any  one.  For  what 
else  would  have  been  necessary  but  to  admonish 
you  that  you  ought  to  adhere  to  the  customs 
handed  down  from  your  ancestors,  a  precedent  in- 
dispensable to  military  discipline  ?  But  now,  since 
they  have  almost  boasted  of  having  surrendered 
themselves  to  the  enemy,  and  have  claimed  to  be 
preferred,  not  only  to  those  who  were  captured  by 
the  enemy  in  the  field,  but  to  those  who  came  to 
Venusia  and  Canusium,  and  even  to  the  consul 
Terentius  himself,  I  will  not  suffer  you  to  remain  in 
ignorance  of  things  which  were  done  there. 

I  wish  that  what  I  am  about  to  bring  before  you 
were  stated  at  Canusium,  before  the  army  itself, 

ii6 


Against  Ransoming  the  Prisoners        117 

the  best  witness  to  every  man's  cowardice  or  valor ; 
or  at  least  that  there  might  have  been  here 
one  person,  Publius  Sempronius,  whom  had  they 
followed  as  their  leader,  then  they  would  this  day 
have  been  soldiers  in  the  Roman  camp,  and  not 
prisoners  in  the  power  of  the  enemy.  But  though 
the  enemy  was  fatigued  with  fighting  and  engaged 
in  rejoicing  for  their  victory,  and  the  greater  part  of 
them  had  retired  into  their  camp  ;  though  they  had 
the  night  at  their  disposal  for  making  a  sally,  and 
as  they  were  seven  thousand  armed  troops,  they 
might  have  forced  their  way  through  the  troops  of 
the  enemy,  however  closely  arrayed ;  yet  they 
neither  attempted  of  themselves  to  do  this,  nor 
were  willing  to  follow  another.  Throughout  nearly 
the  whole  night  Sempronius  ceased  not  to  ad- 
monish and  exhort  them,  while  but  few  of  the 
enemy  were  about  the  camp,  while  there  was  still- 
ness and  quiet,  while  the  night  would  conceal  their 
design,  that  they  should  follow  him  ;  that  before 
daybreak  they  might  reach  places  of  security, 
the  cities  of  their  allies.  If,  as  Publius  Decius, 
the  military  tribune  in  Samnium,  said  within  the 
memory  of  our  grandfathers ;  or  as  Calpurnius 
Flamma,  in  the  First  Punic  War,  when  we  were 
youths,  said  to  the  three  hundred  volunteers,  when 
he  was  leading  them  to  seize  upon  an  eminence 
situated  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy  :  "  Let  us  die, 
soldiers,  and  by  our  death  rescue  the  surrounding 


iiS  Titus  Manlius  Torquatus 

legions  from  ambuscade  "  ; — if  Publius  Sempronius 
has  said  thus,  he  would  have  considered  you  as 
neither  Romans  nor  men  had  no  one  stood  forward 
as  his  companion  in  so  valorous  an  attempt.  He 
points  out  to  you  the  road  that  leads  not  to  glory 
more  than  to  safety ;  he  restores  you  to  your 
country,  your  parents,  your  wives  and  children. 
Do  you  want  courage  to  effect  your  preservation  ? 
What  would  you  do  if  you  had  to  die  for  your 
country  ?  Fifty  thousand  of  your  countrymen  and 
allies  on  that  very  day  lay  around  you  slain.  If  so 
many  examples  of  courage  did  not  move  you, 
nothing  ever  will.  If  so  great  a  carnage  did  not 
make  life  less  dear,  nothing  ever  will. 

While  in  freedom  and  safety,  show  your  affec- 
tion for  your  country  ;  nay,  rather  do  so  always 
while  it  is  your  country  and  you  its  citizens.  Too 
late  you  now  endeavor  to  evince  your  regard  for 
her  when  degraded,  disfranchised  from  the  rights 
of  citizens,  and  become  the  slaves  of  the  Carthagin- 
ians. Shall  you  return  by  purchase  to  that  degree 
which  you  have  forfeited  by  cowardice  and  neglect  ? 
You  did  not  listen  to  Sempronius,  your  countryman, 
when  he  bid  you  take  arms  and  follow  him  ;  but  a 
little  after  you  listened  to  Hannibal,  when  he  ordered 
your  arms  to  be  surrendered  and  your  camp  be- 
trayed. But  why  do  1  charge  those  men  with 
cowardice  when  I  might  tax  them  with  villany  ? 
They  not  only  refused  to  follow  him  who  gave  them 


Against  Ransoming  the  Prisoners       119 

good  advice,  but  endeavored  to  oppose  and  hold 
him  back,  and  would  have  done  so,  had  not  some 
men  of  the  greatest  bravery,  drav^ing  their  sv/ords, 
removed  the  cowards.  Publius  Sempronius,  I  say, 
was  obliged  to  force  his  way  through  a  band  of  his 
countrymen  before  he  burst  through  the  enemy's 
troops.  Can  our  country  regret  such  citizens  as 
these,  whom  if  all  the  rest  resembled  she  would  not 
have  one  citizen  of  all  those  who  fought  at  Cann^  ? 
Out  of  seven  thousand  armed  men,  there  were 
six  hundred  who  had  the  courage  to  force  their 
way  through,  who  returned  to  their  country  free, 
and  in  arms  ;  nor  did  forty  thousand  of  the  enemy 
successfully  oppose  them.  How  safe,  think  you, 
would  a  passage  have  been  for  nearly  two  legions  ? 
Then  you  would  have  had  this  day  at  Canusium, 
Conscript  Fathers,  twenty  thousand  bold  and  faith- 
ful men.  But  now  how  can  these  men  be  called 
faithful  and  good  citizens  (for  they  do  not  even  call 
themselves  brave),  except  one  assumes  that  they 
showed  themselves  such  when  they  opposed  those 
who  were  desirous  of  forcing  their  way  through 
the  enemy,  or  unless  one  assumes  that  they  do  not 
envy  those  men  their  safety  and  glory  acquired  by 
valor,  when  they  must  know  that  their  timidity  and 
cowardice  were  the  cause  of  their  ignominious 
servitude  ?  Skulking  in  their  tents,  they  preferred 
to  wait  for  the  light  and  the  enemy  together,  when 
they  had  an  opportunity  of  sallying  forth  during 


120  Titus  x^Ianlius  Torquatus 

the  silence  of  tlie  night.  But  though  they  had  not 
courage  to  sally  forth  from  the  camp,  had  they 
courage  to  defend  it  strenuousl}'  ?  Having  endured 
a  siege  for  several  days  and  nights,  did  they  pro- 
tect their  rampart  by  their  arms,  and  themselves  by 
their  rampart  ?  At  length,  having  dared  and  suf- 
fered every  extremity,  when  ever>'  means  of  sus- 
tenance was  lost,  their  strength  exhausted  with 
famine,  and  themselves  unable  to  hold  their  arms, 
were  they  subdued  by  the  necessities  of  nature 
rather  than  b\'  arms  ?  At  sunrise,  the  enemy  ap- 
proached the  rampart ;  before  the  second  hour, 
without  hazarding  any  contest,  they  delivered  up 
their  arms  and  themselves.  Here  is  their  military 
service  for  }'ou  during  two  days.  When  they 
ought  to  have  stood  tlrm  in  array  and  fought  on, 
then  they  tied  back  into  their  camps ;  good  for 
nothing  either  in  the  field  or  the  camp.  I  redeem 
>'ou  ?  When  you  ought  to  sall\'  from  the  camp, 
you  linger  and  hesitate  ;  and  when  you  ought  to 
stay  and  protect  your  camp  in  arms,  you  surrender 
the  camp,  your  arms,  and  \'ourselves  to  the  enemy. 
I  am  of  the  opinion.  Conscript  Fathers,  that  these 
men  should  no  more  be  ransomed  than  that  those 
should  be  surrendered  to  Hannibal  who  sallied 
from  the  camp  through  the  midst  of  the  enemy, 
and,  with  the  most  distinguished  courage,  restored 
themselves  to  their  country. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


M.   ANNy^US  SENECA 

M.  Annaeus  Seneca  was  born  in  Cordova  about  54  b.c.  His 
youth  was  spent  in  the  study  of  rhetoric,  and  when  he 
attained  manhood  he  became  a  professor  of  that  art.  His 
fluency  and  prodigious  power  of  memory,  united  to  great 
imaginative  ability,  soon  won  him  fame,  and  he  became  re- 
nowned as  the  most  eloquent  rhetorician  of  his  day.  He  spent 
much  of  his  life  in  Rome,  and  died  either  there  or  at  Cordova 
in  ^8  A.D.  He  has  left  but  few  writings,  and  these  probably 
did  not  rank  among  his  masterpieces,  but  those  extant  are 
valuable  as  examples  of  a  type  of  declamation  which  formed 
an  important  period  in  the  history  of  oratory.  His  Controver- 
siae,  or  discussions  on  legal  subjects,  were  designed  for  use 
as  practice  selections  by  the  orators  of  the  law  courts  ;  the 
Suasoriae  were  discussions  upon  imaginary  themes,  and  were 
adapted  to  the  study  of  students  of  rhetoric.  Seneca  the 
rhetorician  must  not  be  confounded  with  L.  Annaeus  Seneca, 
his  grandson,  also  born  in  Hispania,  and  who  was  tutor  to 
Nero  and  eminent  alike  as  statesman  and  writer. 

Seneca's  style,  as  far  as  known,  was  inclined  to  simplicity 
and  lucidity.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  the 
works  which  have  been  preserved  were  intended  only  for 
study. 

The  only  extant  works  of  Seneca  are  five  books  of  the 
Contr  over  sari  iim,  Libri  X.,  and  the  Suason'ariim  Liber.  His 
works  have  not  been  translated  into  English. 


121 


SUASORIA  VII 

M.  y4nn£eus  Seneca. 

The  following  has  been  selected  as  an  excellent  example  of  the  style  of  Seneca 
in  the  composition  termed  suasoria.  This,  as  will  be  seen,  consisted  in  a 
hortatory  oration,  or  series  thereof,  and  was  much  in  vogue  in  the  days  of  Seneca, 
In  that  selected,  Cicero  is  represented  as  deliberating  whether  he  should  burn  his 
writings,  thereby  earning  the  clemency  of  Antony,  who  has  promised  him  life 
upon  this  condition.  His  friends  exhort  him  to  accept  death  rather  than  thus 
dearly  purchase  life. 

Q,  Hateriiis — ''You  will  not  listen  to  Antony. 
Success  only  renders  an  evil  character  unendurable, 
because  nothing  more  encourages  an  avaricious 
man  than  the  consciousness  of  his  baseness  being 
successful.  The  position  is  a  difficult  one.  You 
will  not  listen  to  him,  1  say,  and  you  will  again 
stir  up  your  personal  enemy  to  your  destruction. 
As  to  me,  indeed,  1  am  not  of  great  help  to  Cicero  ; 
but  I  am  not  so  much  disgusted  with  my  life  as 
ashamed  of  it,  because  not  even  in  this  is  it  of  much 
use  to  Cicero.  You  are  proud  of  your  talent,  the 
very  thing  which  Antony  hates  more  than  he  hates 
you.  He  says  that  you  may  live,  when  he  has  al- 
ready contrived  a  plan  to  rob  you  of  that  by  which 

you  truly  live.    More  cruel,  therefore,  is  Antony's 

123 


124  Annaeus  Seneca 

promise  than  his  proscription.  The  arms  of  the 
triumvirs  had  no  power  over  your  genius.  Then 
Antony  deliberated  hov/  he  might  destroy  through 
Cicero  that  which  he  was  unable  to  proscribe  to- 
gether with  Cicero,  if  freedom  held  her  place  in 
the  Republic,  if  eloquence  held  her  place  in  free- 
dom, and  if  the  lives  of  the  citizens  were  not  mere- 
ly sported  with,  I  should  exhort  you,  O  Cicero,  to 
place  a  high  value  upon  your  life.  But  now  An- 
tony promises  you  life,  that  you  may  see  that  death 
is  the  best  portion.  The  list  of  that  accursed  pro- 
scription is  yet  unfmished  ;  many  praetorians,  many 
men  of  consular  rank,  many  of  the  order  of  knights 
have  perished  ;  no  one  is  left  except  those  who  can 
be  made  slaves.  I  do  not  know  if  at  this  time  you 
desire  to  live,  O  Cicero  ;  there  is  no  one  left  with 
whom  you  would  care  to  live.  But,  by  Hercules  ! 
there  was  a  time  when  you  lived  worthily  ;  it  was 
when  C^sar  of  his  own  accord  asked  that  you 
might  live,  and  that  too  without  any  bargain  ;  at 
which  time  the  State  could  not  be  said  to  be  stand- 
ing, for  it  had  fallen  into  the  arms  of  a  benevolent 
prince." 

Cestiiis  Pius — ''  Has  my  expectation  deceived 
me  ?  Antony  comprehended  that  if  the  memorials 
of  Cicero's  eloquence  remained  secure,  Cicero  could 
not  die.  You  are  therefore  asked  to  make  a  com- 
pact according  to  which  your  nobler  part  is  threat- 
ened with  destruction.     Lend  me  for  a  moment 


Suasoria  VII  125 

some  of  your  own  eloquence.  I  ask  Cicero,  who 
is  soon  to  die,  whether  Ciesar  and  Pompey,  refus- 
ing your  advice,  did  not  enter  into  a  base  alliance, 
did  not  break  it  ?  1  ask  whether,  if  they  had  been 
willing  to  follow  your  counsel,  Pompey  would  have 
deserted  C^sar,  or  C^sar  Pompey  ?  I  ask,  what 
of  your  consulship  which  brought  safety  to  the 
city  ?  What  of  your  exile,  even  more  honorable  to 
you  than  your  consulship  ?  what  of  the  power  of 
Sulla,  provoked  by  you  at  the  very  beginning  of 
your  manhood  ?  what  of  Antony,  torn  from  Cati- 
line and  restored  to  the  Republic  ?  Pardon  me,  O 
Cicero,  if  I  have  spoken  at  too  great  length  of  these 
things  ;  it  may  be  that  this  day  they  will  be  heard  for 
the  last  time.  If  Cicero  be  slain,  he  will  lie  beside 
Pompey  the  Elder  and  Pompey  the  Younger,  beside 
Afranius  Petreius,  Quintus  Catulus,  and  that  Marcus 
Antonius  who  did  not  deserve  such  a  successor  as 
the  present  Antonius.  If  Cicero  be  saved,  he  will 
live  among  the  Ventidii,  the  Canicii,  and  the  Sax«. 
Can  it  be  doubted  whether  it  would  be  better  for 
him  to  lie  dead  among  the  former  or  to  live  among 
the  latter  ?  To  save  one  man,  yourself,  you  would 
sell  that  which  is  of  great  value  to  the  whole  State. 
1  know  that  any  price  which  Antony  might  fix 
would  be  unjust ;  no  one  would  buy  the  life  of 
Cicero  at  the  only  price  for  which  Antony  would 
sell  it.  If  he  should  keep  his  compact  with  you, 
you  would  indeed  live,  but  your  eyes  would  be 


126  Annaeus  Seneca 

torn  out ;  you  would  live,  but  your  feet  would  be 
lamed ;  and  even  if  in  regard  to  all  other  bodily 
losses  you  manifested  patience  and  resignation, 
you  could  not  feel  these  at  the  loss  of  your  tongue. 
Where  is  that  sacred  voice  of  yours  ?  For  to  die  is 
the  end  of  nature,  not  a  penalty  ;  is  it  only  to  you 
that  this  is  not  clear  ?  Rather  preserve  yourself  to 
liberty,  and  thus  add  one  more  crime  to  those  of 
your  enemy.  Make  Antony  yet  more  criminal  by 
your  death." 

P.  Asprenas — ''  In  order  that  Antony  may  spare 
Cicero,  will  Cicero  sin  against  his  own  eloquence. 
Besides,  what  is  promised  you  ?  Is  it  that  Cn^eus 
Pompey  and  Marcus  Cato  and  that  ancient  and 
most  dignified  Senate  of  the  State  shall  be  again 
brought  to  life,  and  that  Cicero  shall  speak  in  their 
presence  ?  Many,  when  on  the  verge  of  success, 
have  been  struck  down  by  that  soul's  scorn  of  life  ; 
many,  when  at  the  point  of  perishing,  have  been 
sustained  by  mere  admiration  for  that  soul ;  and 
with  them,  to  die  bravely  was  to  truly  live.  In- 
trust yourself  to  the  Roman  people  against  Antony. 
If  you  burn  your  writings,  Antony  promises  you  a 
few  years  ;  but  if  you  do  not  burn  them,  the  Ro- 
man people  promise  you  eternity." 

Pompeiiis  Silo—''  What  sort  of  a  compact  is  this, 
that  we  should  destroy  the  eloquence  of  Cicero  and 
accept  the  pledge  of  Antony  ?  Do  you  call  that 
pity,  that  which  would  be  the  most  severe  punish- 


Suasoria  VII  127 

ment  to  the  talents  of  Cicero  ?  We  should  trust 
Antony,  O  Cicero,  if  money-lenders  would  do  well 
to  trust  their  money  to  him,  if  Brutus  and  Cassius 
would  do  well  to  trust  their  safety  to  him, — to  him, 
a  man  rendered  crazy  both  by  nature  and  by  the 
license  of  the  times,  a  man  who,  amid  his  love- 
affairs  with  actors,  revels  in  the  blood  of  the  citi- 
zens ;  a  man  who  pledged  the  Republic  to  his 
creditors,  and  whose  avarice  was  not  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  wealth  of  two  princes,  Csesar  and  Pom- 
pey.  I  will  quote  your  own  words,  O  Cicero  :  Is 
that  safety,  which  Antony  can  bestow  or  take 
away,  precious  to  any  one  ?  To  owe  to  Antony 
the  preservation  of  Cicero  would  be  to  purchase 
the  preservation  of  Cicero  at  too  great  a  price." 

Triarius— "The  Roman  people  were  once  driven 
to  such  straits  that  nothing  was  left  to  them  except 
the  besieged  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  and  the 
exiled  Camillus  ;  yet  no  act  of  Camillus  was  nobler 
than  that  he  thought  it  unworthy  of  a  man  to  owe 
his  safety  to  a  bargain.  Life,  even  though  it  be 
granted  without  payment,  is  only  a  burden.  An- 
tony, once  adjudged  an  enemy  by  the  Republic, 
now  adjudges  the  Republic  an  enemy.  Lepidus, 
in  order  that  the  world  might  not  think  that  as  a 
colleague  he  was  distasteful  to  Antony,  exceeds 
him  in  frenzy  :  the  slave  of  both  colleagues  is  our 
master." 

y1rgentarws—''We  must  put  no  confidence  in 


128  Annaeus  Seneca 

Antony.  For  what  might  he  not  do  who  could  kill 
Cicero,  or  who  would  save  him  only  by  a  cruelty 
worse  than  death  ?  Do  you  believe  that  he  for- 
gives you,  he  who  hates  your  talents  ?  Do  you 
hope  for  life  at  the  hands  of  him  from  whose  mem- 
ory your  words  have  not  faded  ?  Should  genius, 
which  is  eternal,  perish,  that  the  body,  which  is 
weak  and  fragile,  should  be  preserved  for  a  time  ? 
I  wondered  if  Antony's  favor  would  not  be  more 
cruel  than  his  punishments.  A  noble  death  placed 
among  the  ranks  of  the  Scipios,  Publius  Scipio,  who 
in  life  fell  far  below  the  distinction  of  his  ancestors. 
Antony  delivers  you  from  death  in  order  that  that 
which  alone  of  you  is  immortal  may  perish.  What 
a  promise  !  The  genius  of  Cicero  is  to  be  taken 
away,  and  only  his  life  remain.  A  few  years  of 
servitude  are  promised  you,  but  with  oblivion  for 
your  name  added.  Antony  does  not  wish  you  to 
live,  but  only  to  make  you  the  survivor  of  your  ge- 
nius. Live,  that  Cicero  may  listen  to  Lepidus,  that 
Cicero  may  listen  to  Antony,  but  that  no  one  may 
listen  to  Cicero  !  Can  you  endure  that  the  best  of 
you  shall  die  the  first  ?  Let  rather  your  genius  and 
the  infamous  proscription  of  Antony  survive  you." 
Arelliiis  Fuscus — *'As  long  as  the  human  race 
survives,  as  long  as  literature  survives,  honor  will 
reward  the  noblest  eloquence.  As  long  as  the  for- 
tune of  our  State  exists  or  memory  endures,  splen- 
did genius  will  be  esteemed  by  posterity  ;  though 


Suasoria  VII  129 

yourself  proscribed  in  this  generation,  you  shall 
proscribe  Antony  forever.  Believe  me,  it  is  but  the 
most  trivial  part  of  you  which  can  be  taken  from  or 
bestowed  upon  you.  That  Cicero  who  Antony 
thinks  cannot  be  proscribed  except  by  Cicero  him- 
self, that  is  the  real  Cicero.  He  does  not  abandon 
your  proscription,  but  he  desires  to  avert  his  own. 
If  Antony  should  break  his  promise,  you  will  die  ; 
if  he  should  keep  it,  you  will  live  a  slave.  As  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  1  would  choose  to  foil  him.  By 
yourself,  Marcus  Tullius,  by  your  four-and-sixty 
years  of  noble  life,  by  the  welfare  of  the  Republic, 
by  your  consulship,  by  the  memory  of  your  eternal 
genius,  if  you  permit  it  to  be  eternal,  by  the  Re- 
public, which  perished  before  you  that  you  might 
not  think  that  you  left  behind  you  anything  dear 
to  you,  I  urge  and  beseech  you  not  to  die  having 
confessed  that  you  were  unwilling  to  die." 

Translated  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


VOL.  II. 


AULUS  GELLIUS 

Aulus  Gellius  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  at  Rome  about 
117  A.  D.  He  studied  rhetoric  at  Rome  and  philosophy  at 
Athens.  He  became  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Roman 
bar.     He  died  about  181  a.d. 

His  style  is  somewhat  artificial  and  inclined  to  the  pedantic. 
Yet  his  work  is  interesting  from  the  vitality  of  his  anecdotes 
and  reminiscences. 

His  extant  work,  Nodes  Atticce,  is  valuable  because  of  many 
quotations  from  ancient  writers. 

The  best  edition  of  his  work  is  that  of  Hertz,  Leipzig  ;  1871, 
Teubner.  Translations  in  English,  French,  and  German  have 
been  made. 


131 


FRAGMENTS 


Aulus  Gellius. 


The  following  fragments  taken  from  the  Nodes  Atticce  are  attributed  to 
Gaius  Gracchus  and  M.  Porcius  Cato  respectively.  If  authentic,  they  are  im- 
portant examples  of  the  work  of  these  orators. 


EXORDIUM  OF  THE  SPEECH  FOR  THE  RHODIANS 

Cato. 

1KN0W  that  most  men  are  accustomed  in  pros- 
perity to  be  highly  elated,  and  that  their 
haughtiness  and  ferocity  increases  and  enlarges. 
Now  it  is  a  great  care  to  me  that  these  affairs 
should  advance  so  successfully  that  no  untoward 
event  may  happen  to  our  deliberations  nor  interfere 
with  our  success,  and  that  our  joy,  our  rejoicing 
over  these  things,  may  not  be  too  excessive.  Ad- 
versity teaches  what  there  is  need  of;  prosperity  is 
wont  by  reason  of  excessive  joy  to  drive  one  from 
just  and  intelligent  deliberation.  Wherefore,  I  ad- 
vise and  recommend  strongly  that  this  matter  be 
postponed  for  some  time  until  we  return  from  our 
great  joy  to  control  of  ourselves.    And  now  1  think 

that  the  Rhodians  did  not  wish  to  fight  us,  as  they 

133 


134  Marcus  Porcius  Cato 

did  fight.  Not  only  were  the  Rhodians  unwilling, 
but  also  I  think  many  nations  and  peoples  were 
unwilling  to  fight  against  us.  And  1  am  also  in- 
clined to  think  that  there  were  some  of  them  who 
did  not  wish  this  to  turn  out  as  it  did,  through  fear 
of  insult  to  us ;  they  also  feared  that  they  might 
come  under  our  sovereign  control,  and  be  reduced 
to  a  condition  of  servitude.  The  Rhodians,  never- 
theless, did  not  as  a  State  assist  King  Perses. 
Reflect  how^very  careful  we  are  with  our  own  in- 
dividual affairs.  For  each  one  of  us,  if  any  one 
thinks  that  anything  is  against  his  own  interests, 
strives  against  it  with  all  his  might,  in  order  that 
nothing  disadvantageous  may  befall  his  affairs ; 
nevertheless,  these  (Rhodians)  endured  this  state 
of  affairs. 

Translated  for  this  volume  by  H.  C.  Whiting,  L.H.D., 
Professor  in  Dickinson  College. 

FRAGMENT  OF  SPEECH  IN  BEHALF  OF  THE  RHODIANS 

Cato. 

Shall  we  abandon  them  now  when  there  might 
be  such  mutual  profit  and  friendship  ?  Shall  we 
hasten  to  be  the  first  to  do  that  which  we  say  they 
wish  to  do  ?  He  who  speaks  most  strongly  against 
them  says  that  they  wish  to  become  enemies.  Is 
there,  pray,  any  one  of  you  who  thinks  it  just  to 
punish  them  simply  because  it  is  charged  that  they 
were  willing  to  act  the  part  of  an  enemy  ?    No  one, 


Fragments  135 

I  think  ;  for  I,  in  so  far  as  in  me  lies,  would  not  be 
willing.  What  then  ?  Pray,  is  there  any  law  so 
severe  as  to  say,  if  any  one  had  the  inclination  to 
become  hostile,  let  him  be  fined  in  the  half  of  his 
household  slaves  ?  For  example,  if  any  one  simply 
wished  to  have  more  than  five  hundred  acres  of 
land,  or  if  any  one  wished  to  have  a  large  number 
of  cattle,  would  any  one  say,  let  him  suffer 
a  penalty  in  proportion  to  his  wishes  ?  We  wish 
to  have  many  times  more  than  we  have  ;  and  yet 
this  is  without  punishment  on  our  part.  But  if  it 
is  not  just  to  be  considered  meritorious  merely  for 
this  reason,  that  one  says  that  he  wishes  to  do  well, 
and  yet  does  not  do  it,  shall  it  be  a  crime  in  the 
Rhodians,  not  because  they  did  the  wrong,  but 
because  they  are  said  to  have  wished  to  do  so  ? 
They  say  the  Rhodians  are  haughty  :  grant  that 
they  are  haughty  ;  how  does  that  concern  us? 
Are  we  to  become  angry  because  one  is  haughtier 
than  we  are  ? 

Translated  for  this  volume  by  H.  C.  Whiting,  L.H.D., 
Professor  in  Dickinson  College. 

MEN  MUST  BE  TAKEN  AS  THEY  ARE 

Gains  Gracchus. 

For  you,  O  Romans,  if  you  are  willing  to  employ 
wisdom  and  reason,  and  if  you  inquire,  will  find 
that  no  one  of  us  gives  his  services  without  pay. 
All  of  us  who  speak  ask  something,  and  no  one 
comes  to  you  except  that  he  may  take  something 


136  Gaius  Gracchus 

away.  I  myself,  who  speak  to  you  that  you  may 
increase  your  revenue,  and  that  you  may  the  more 
easily  administer  your  personal  affairs  and  those  of 
the  State,  do  not  come  here  gratis.  But  I  ask  of 
you,  not  money,  but  good  opinion  and  honor.  But 
those  who  come  forward  to  persuade  you  not  to 
accept  this  law  seek  not  honor  at  your  hands,  but 
money  at  the  hands  of  Nicomedes.  Those  who 
advise  you  to  accept  the  law  also  ask  of  you  not  a 
good  opinion,  but  a  reward  and  pay  at  the  hands 
of  Mithridates.  Moreover,  those  in  this  body  and 
in  this  place  who  are  silent,  are  indeed  very  spirited 
men,  but  they  accept  pay  from  all.  You,  when 
you  think  that  they  are  far  removed  from  these 
things,  bestow  upon  them  a  good  opinion.  More- 
over, ambassadors  from  the  kings,  when  they  think 
that  these  men  are  silent  for  their  sake,  bestow 
upon  them  large  sums  of  money  and  defray  their 
expenses  ;  as  in  the  land  of  Greece,  when  a  Greek 
tragedian  considered  it  a  great  glory  that  a  talent 
was  given  him  for  one  play,  the  most  eloquent  man 
of  his  State,  Demades,  is  reported  to  have  said : 
''  Do  you  think  it  wonderful  to  have  received  one 
talent  for  this  spoken  production  ?  I  have  received 
ten  talents  from  the  king  to  be  silent."  So  now 
these  people  receive  the  greatest  price  for  being 
silent. 

Translated  for  this  volume  by  H.  C.  Whiting,  L.H.D., 
Professor  in  Dickinson  College. 


Fragments  137 

IN  VINDICATION   OF   HIS   POLITICAL   PURITY 

Gains  Gracchus. 

Gaius  Gracchus,  when  he  returned  from  Sardinia,  delivered  a  speech  to  the 
people  in  their  assembly.     These  are  his  words  : — 

I  SO  conducted  myself  in  the  province  as  I  believed 
would  be  to  your  best  interests  ;  not  as  I  thought 
would  conduce  to  my  personal  ambition.  I  had 
no  cook-shop  with  me,  no  slaves  of  beautiful  form 
stood  in  my  presence.  I  conducted  myself  so  that 
no  one  could  truly  say  that  1  received  a  single 
farthing  as  a  personal  gift ;  nor  can  any  one  truly 
say  that  he  was  put  to  expense  through  my  fault. 
I  was  two  years  in  the  province  ;  if  any  disreput- 
able person  entered  my  home,  you  may  consider 
me  the  lowest  and  most  worthless  of  mankind. 
When  I  set  out,  O  Romans,  to  return  to  Rome,  the 
money  girdles  which  I  carried  to  the  province  full 
of  silver  I  brought  back  from  the  province  empty. 
Some  persons  brought  back  full  of  silver  the  wine 
jars  which  they  carried  to  the  provinces  full  of 
wine. 

Translated  for  this  volume  hy  H.  C.  Whiting,  L.H.D., 
Professor  in  Dickinson  College. 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 

Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  was  born  near  Arpinum  on  January 
3,  io6  B.C.  His  family  was  of  the  Equestrian  order,  of  some 
wealtii  and  a  large  local  influence.  It  had  never  been  con- 
nected with  the  political  movements  of  the  capital.  In  ear- 
liest youth  Cicero  manifested  great  intellectual  promise.  His 
father,  a  man  of  good  education  and  liberal  ideas,  determined 
to  take  the  boy  to  Rome  and  place  him  under  the  leading 
instructors.  The  elder  Cicero  and  Quintus,  an  older  son  who 
had  already  settled  at  Rome,  devoted  themselves  to  the  educa- 
tion of  Marcus.  The  boy  had  many  masters,  among  them  the 
poet  Archias,  by  whom  he  was  taught  grammar,  rhetoric,  and 
literature.  At  sixteen,  he,  as  was  the  custom,  assumed  the 
toga,  and  was  duly  enrolled  as  a  Roman  citizen.  The  study 
of  law,  oratory,  and  philosophy  was  now  begun.  Philosophy 
was  taught  him  by  Philo  the  Academic,  by  Diodotus  the 
Stoic,  and  Molo  gave  him  instruction  in  philosophical  disputa- 
tion, which,  for  the  purpose  of  improving  his  style,  was  car- 
ried on  in  Greek.  He  neglected  no  line  of  study  known  to  his 
world,  and  under  the  advice  of  the  masters  of  each  branch  be- 
came the  most  learned  man  of  his  day.  His  legal  and  ora- 
torical studies  were  carried  on  under  the  friendly  eyes  of  the 
Augur  Mucins  Scaevola  and  the  orators  Crassus  and  Antonius, 
and  under  their  advice  and  with  constant  practice,  he  prepared 
himself  for  his  future  career.  He  spent  every  possible  mo- 
ment in  study  at  the  Senate,  law  courts,  or  the  public  meet- 
ings. He  was  abstemious  to  a  fault,  took  little  or  no  exercise, 
and  thought  only  of  his  work.  Not  until  he  had  reached  his 
twenty-sixth  year  did  he  consider  himself  fitted  to  commence 
his  public  career.  The  name  of  his  first  speech  is  not  certain- 
ly known,  but  it  is  thought  to  be  that  for  Quintus.  This  was 
soon  followed  by  the  great  oration  in  defence  of  Roscius.  in 
one  year  these  orations  gave  him  rank  as  one  of  the  greatest 

139 


I40  The  World's  Orators 

of  Roman  orators.  But  Cicero  had  drawn  upon  him  the  wrath 
of  Sulla,  as  Chrysogonus,  a  favorite  of  the  dictator,  had  been 
the  accuser  of  Roscius.  Then,  too,  Cicero  joined,  with  the  en- 
thusiasm of  early  manhood,  the  popular  party.  His  health 
began  to  fail  under  the  tremendous  exertions  he  had  made. 
He  decided  to  travel  and  continue  his  studies.  He  visited 
Greece,  and  at  Athens  studied  philosophy  with  Antiochus,  the 
Academic,  and  with  Zeno  and  Phaedrus,  the  Epicureans.  He 
next  travelled  in  Asia  Minor,  visiting  Stratonice,  Magnesia, 
Cnidos,  and  Adramyttium,  where  he  held  counsel  with  the 
leading  philosophers  and  rhetoricians.  He  then  studied  at 
Rhodes  under  his  old  preceptor  Molo.  After  two  years'  ab- 
sence, he  returned  to  Rome  in  perfect  health  and  with  widely 
augmented  knowledge.  From  the  delivery  of  his  first  speech 
after  returning,  his  position  as  the  foremost  of  Roman  orators 
was  universally  acknowledged.  He  passed  through  the  va- 
rious political  offices,  and  was  elected  to  the  consulship.  His 
life  was  passed  in  constant  and  varied  activity.  He  was  the 
leading  lawyer,  the  most  eminent  statesman,  the  most  learned 
scholar  of  his  generation,  and  the  greatest  orator  of  Roman 
history.  He  was  murdered  on  December  7,  43  B.C.,  by  com- 
mand of  Antonius  and  with  the  consent  of  Octavius. 

Any  extended  criticism  of  Cicero's  style  would  be  out  of 
place  in  this  work.  The  able  treatises  upon  this  subject  fill 
volumes.  A  bibliography  of  these  valuable  contributions  to 
literary  criticism  may  be  found  in  the  pages  of  Engelmann, 
Teuffel,  and  others. 

Yet  it  may  be  well  to  note  the  general  characteristics  of  the 
style  of  the  great  Roman  orator.  This  was  always  easy  and 
sometimes  almost  dangerously  light  of  touch  ;  but  it  was 
never  ineffective.  There  was  generally  a  cumulative  rapidity, 
borrowed,  but  strengthened  in  the  transition,  from  the  Grecian 
school.  Cicero  has  been  charged  with  verboseness,  but  this 
was  used  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  and  gradually  riveting 
the  attention  of  his  auditory.  When  the  subject  demanded 
conciseness,  he  was  never  verbose.  There  is  in  his  style  a 
stateliness  and  gorgeousness  which  was  the  product  and  the 
taste  of  his  time.     He  was  always  logical,  always  cogent  in 


Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  141 

his  reasoning,  and  liis  method  of  arrangement  has  never  been 
surpassed.  His  power  as  an  orator  may  perhaps  be  best 
summed  up  in  the  words  of  Quintilian:  ".  .  .  I  may  not 
unreasonably  believe  that  the  summit  of  excellence  was  not 
attained  by  him.  Nevertheless,  no  man  has  made  nearer 
approach  to  it." 

The  works  that  most  concern  us  are  those  in  the  field  of 
oratory.  In  addition  to  his  Orations  we  have  the  De  Oratore 
and  the  Brutus. 

Many  editions  of  his  works  have  been  published.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  name  the  best.  The  bibliographies  in  such  works  as 
Bibliotheca  Scriptonim  Classicorum,  Scriptores  Latini,  En- 
gelmann,  should  be  consulted.  A  very  satisfactory  edition  of 
Cicero's  complete  works  is  that  of  Teubner,  Leipzig,  1874. 
The  Valpy  edition  of  the  Orations  with  English  notes,  Long- 
man, London,  1839,  is  useful.  Forsyth's  Life  of  Cicero  is 
the  standard.  Translations  of  the  Orations,  De  Oratore,  and 
the  Brutus  are  to  be  found  in  French  and  German,  as  well  as 
in  English. 


ON  THE  PUNISHMENTS 

[Selection.]  Cicero. 

FROM  THE  FIFTH  BOOK  OF  THE  SECOND  ACTION 
AGAINST  VERRES 


About  the  period  of  Sulla's  abdication  a  young  noble,  named  Caius  Ven-es,  ac- 
companied the  praetor  Dolabella  to  his  government  of  Ciiicia.  At  Sicyon,  in 
Achaia,  as  he  passed  along,  he  thought  fit  to  demand  a  sum  of  money  of  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  city,  and,  being  refused,  shut  him  up  in  a  close  chamber,  with 
a  fire  ot  green  wood,  to  extort  the  gratuity  he  required.  From  the  same  place  he 
carried  off  several  of  the  finest  sculptures  and  paintings.  At  Athens  he  shared 
with  his  chief  the  plunder  of  the  temple  of  Minerva  ;  at  Delos,  that  of  Apollo; 
at  Chios,  Erythraea,  Halicarnassus,  and  elsewhere  on  his  route,  he  perpetrated 
similar  acts  of  rapine.  Samos  possessed  a  temple  celebrated  throughout  Asia  ; 
Verres  rifled  both  the  temple  and  the  city  itself.  The  Samians  complained  to  the 
governor  of  Asia  ;  they  were  recommended  to  carry  their  complaints  to  Rome. 
Perga  boasted  a  statue  of  Diana  coated  with  gold  ;  Verres  scraped  off  the  gilding. 
Miletus  offered  the  escort  of  one  of  her  finest  vessels  ;  he  detained  it  for  his  own 
use  and  sold  it.  At  Lampsacus  he  sought  to  dishonor  the  daughter  of  the  first 
citizen  of  the  place  ;  her  father  and  brother  ventured  to  defend  her,  and  slew  one 
of  his  attendants.  Verres  seized  the  pretext  to  accuse  them  both  of  an  attempt 
on  his  life,  and  the  governor  of  the  province  obliged  him  by  cutting  off  both 
their  heads.  Such  were  the  atrocities  of  the  young  ruffian  while  yet  a  mere  de- 
pendent of  the  proconsul,  with  no  charge  or  office  of  his  own.  Being  appointed 
quaestor,  he  extended  his  exactions  over  every  district  of  the  provinces,  and 
speedily  amassed,  as  is  known  from  the  avowal  of  his  own  principal,  from  two  to 
three  millions  of  sesterces  beyond  the  requisitions  of  the  public  service. 

Verres  could  now  pay  for  his  election  to  the  praetorship  in  the  city.  For  a  year 
he  dispensed  his  favorable  judgments  to  wealthy  suitors  at  home,  and  on  its  ter- 
mination sailed  for  the  province  of  Sicily.  Here  his  conduct  in  the  tribunal  was 
marked  by  the  most  glaring  venality.  He  sold  everything,  both  his  patronage  and 
his  decisions,  making  sport  of  the  laws  of  the  country  and  of  his  own  edicts  ; 

143 


144  Cicero 

of  the  religion,  the  fortunes,  and  the  loves  of  the  provincials.  During  the  three 
years  of  his  government  not  a  single  senator  of  the  sixty-five  cities  of  the  island 
was  elected  without  a  gratuity  to  the  propraetor.  He  imposed  arbitrary  requisi- 
tions of  many  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  grain  upon  communities  already 
overburdened  with  their  authorized  tithes.  He  distributed  cities  among  his  crea- 
tures with  the  air  of  a  Persian  despot  ;  Lipara  he  gave  to  a  boon  companion, 
Segesta  to  an  actress,  Herbita  to  a  courtesan.  These  exactions  threatened  to 
depopulate  the  country.  At  the  period  of  his  arrival  the  territory  of  Leontium 
possessed  eighty-three  farms  ;  in  the  third  year  of  the  Verrine  administration  only 
thirty-two  remained  in  occupation.  At  Motya  the  number  of  tenanted  estates 
had  fallen  from  a  hundred  and  eighty-eight  to  a  hundred  and  one  ;  at  Herbita, 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  ;  at  Argyrona,  from 
two  hundred  and  fifty  to  eighty.  Throughout  the  province  more  than  one  half 
of  the  cultivated  lands  were  abandoned,  as  if  the  scourge  of  war  or  pestilence  had 
passed  over  the  island. 

But  Verres  was  an  amateur  and  an  antiquary,  and  had  a  taste  for  art  as  well  as 
a  thirst  for  lucre.  At  every  city  where  he  stopped  on  his  progresses  he  extorted 
gems,  vases,  and  trinkets  from  his  host,  or  from  any  inhabitant  whom  he  under- 
stood to  possess  them.  No  one  ventured  to  complain.  There  was  no  redress 
even  for  a  potentate  in  alliance  with  the  Republic,  such  as  Antiochus,  King  of 
Syria,  who  was  robbed  of  a  splendid  candelabrum  enriched  with  jewels,  which 
he  was  about  to  dedicate  in  the  Capitol  at  Rome.  All  these  objects  of  art  were 
sent  off  to  Italy  to  decorate  the  villa  of  the  propraetor.  Nor  were  the  antiques 
and  curiosities  he  thus  amassed  less  valuable  than  the  ornaments  of  gold  and 
silver.  Finally,  Verres  laid  his  hands  on  certain  statues  of  Ceres  and  Diana,  the 
special  objects  of  worship  among  the  natives,  who  were  only  allowed  the  consola- 
tion of  coming  to  offer  them  their  sacrifices  in  his  garden.  Nor  did  the  extortion 
of  Verres  fall  upon  the  Sicilians  only.  He  cheated  the  treasury  at  Rome  of  the 
sums  advanced  to  him  in  payment  of  corn  for  the  consumption  of  the  city.  He 
withheld  the  necessary  equipments  for  the  fleet  which  he  was  directed  to  send 
against  the  pirates,  and  applied  them  to  his  own  use.  The  fleet  was  worsted  by 
the  enemy,  and  Verres  caused  its  officers  to  be  executed  for  cowardice.  He 
crowned  his  enormities  by  punishing  one  of  the  ruling  caste  with  death.  Gavius, 
a  Roman  trader,  he  had  confined  in  the  quarries  of  Syracuse.  The  man 
escaped,  was  retaken,  and  fastened  to  a  cross  on  the  beach  within  sight  of  Italy, 
that  he  might  address  to  his  native  shores  the  ineffectual  cry,  "  I  am  a  Roman 
citizen." 

Verres  was  impeached  in  70  b.c.  The  importance  of  the  trial  was  great. 
The  fate  of  Verres,  the  whole  system  of  the  oligarchical  administration  of  the 
provinces,  and  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  act  as  a  jury  were  involved.  Verres 
secured  the  great  advocate  Hortensius  as  consul.  Every  effort  was  made  to  de- 
feat the  prosecution  before  actual  trial.  Cicero,  then  in  his  thirty-sixth  year,  saw 
in  the  trial  his  opportunity.  He  seized  it.  He  overcame  the  schemes  of  the 
defence  and  brought  the  case  to  trial.  The  opening  speech,  known  as  the  First 
Oration  against  Verres,  was  devoted  to  the  production  of  evidence  against  him. 
The  proof  was  so  overwhelming  that  Hortensius  abandoned  the  defence,  and 


On  the  Punishments  i45 

Verres  went  into  voluntary  exile.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  this  would  have 
ended  the  matter,  but  so  great  were  the  Constitutional  and  political  interests  in- 
volved that  Cicero  completed  the  orations  he  had  intended  to  deliver  against 
Verres,  and  published  them  as  a  weapon  against  the  Sullan  Constitution.  These 
Orations  are  five  in  number  and  constitute  what  is  known  as  the  Second  Pleading 
against  Verres.  From  these  we  have  selected  a  part  of  the  Fifth  Oration,  that  On 
the  Punishments. 

THE  remainder  of  the  accusation,  O  judges,  is 
one  which  I  have  not  received  from  any  one, 
but  v/hich  is,  if  I  may  so  say,  innate  in  me ;  it  is 
one  which  has  not  been  brought  to  me,  but  which 
is  deeply  fixed  and  implanted  in  all  my  feelings ; 
it  is  one  which  concerns,  not  the  safety  of  allies, 
but  the  life  and  existence  of  Roman  citizens,  that 
is  to  say,  of  every  one  of  us.  And  in  urging  this, 
do  not,  O  judges,  expect  to  hear  any  arguments 
from  me,  as  if  the  matter  was  doubtful.  Every- 
thing which  I  am  going  to  say  about  the  punish- 
ment of  Roman  citizens  will  be  so  evident  and 
notorious  that  I  could  produce  many  witnesses  to 
prove  it.  For  some  insanity,  the  frequent  compan- 
ion of  wickedness  and  audacity,  urged  on  that 
man's  unrestrained  ferocity  of  disposition  and  in- 
human nature  to  such  frenzy  that  he  never 
hesitated  openly,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
body  of  citizens  and  settlers,  to  employ  against 
Roman  citizens  those  punishments  which  have 
been  instituted  only  for  slaves  convicted  of  crime. 
Why  need  1  tell  you  how  many  men  he  has 
scourged  ?  1  will  only  say  most  briefly,  O  judges, 
that  while  that  man  was  pr^tor  there  was  no 


VOL.     II.— lO 


146  Cicero 

discrimination  whatever  in  the  infliction  of  that  sort 
of  punishment,  and,  accordingly,  the  hands  of  the 
lictor  were  habitually  laid  on  the  persons  of  Roman 
citizens,  even  without  any  actual  order  from 
Verres. 

Can  you  deny  this,  O  Verres,  that  in  the  Forum, 
at  Lilybasum,  in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  body 
of  inhabitants,  Caius  Servilius,  a  Roman  citizen,  an 
old  trader  of  the  body  of  settlers  at  Panormus,  was 
beaten  to  the  ground  by  rods  and  scourges  before 
your  tribunal,  before  your  very  feet  ?  Dare  first  to 
deny  this,  if  you  can.  No  one  was  at  Lilybasum 
who  did  not  see  it.  No  one  was  in  Sicily  who  did 
not  hear  of  it.  I  assert  that  a  Roman  citizen  fell 
down  before  your  eyes,  exhausted  by  the  scourg- 
ing of  your  lictors.  For  what  reason,  O  ye  im- 
mortal gods  ? — though  in  asking  that  I  am  doing 
injury  to  the  common  cause  of  all  the  citizens,  and 
to  the  privilege  of  citizenship,  for  I  am  asking  what 
reason  there  was  in  the  case  of  Servilius  for  this 
treatment,  as  if  there  could  be  any  reason  for  its 
being  legally  inflicted  on  any  Roman  citizen. 
Pardon  me  this  one  error,  O  judges,  for  I  will  not 
in  the  rest  of  the  cases  ask  for  any  reason.  He 
had  spoken  rather  freely  of  the  dishonesty  and 
worthlessness  of  Verres.  And  as  soon  as  Verres  is 
informed  of  this,  he  orders  the  man  to  Lilyb^um 
to  give  security  in  a  prosecution  instituted  against 
him  by  one  of  the  slaves  of  Verres.     He  gives 


I 

On  the  Punishments  147 

security.  He  comes  to  Lilybceum.  Verres  begins 
by  compelling  him,  though  no  one  proceeded  with 
any  action  against  him,  though  no  one  made  any 
claim  on  him,  to  be  bound  over  in  the  sum  of  two 
thousand  sesterces  to  appear  to  a  charge  brought 
against  him  by  his  own  lictor,  in  the  formula, — ''if 
he  had  made  any  profit  by  robbery."  He  says  that 
he  will  appoint  judges  out  of  his  own  revenue. 
Servilius  demurs,  and  entreats  that  he  may  not  be 
proceeded  against  by  a  capital  prosecution  before 
unjust  judges  and  where  there  is  no  prosecutor. 
While  he  is  urging  this  with  a  loud  voice,  six  of 
the  most  vigorous  lictors  surround  him,  men  in  full 
practice  in  beating  and  scourging  men  ;  they  beat 
him  most  furiously  with  rods  ;  then  the  lictor  who 
was  nearest  to  him,  the  man  whom  I  have  already 
often  mentioned,  Sextus,  turning  his  stick  round, 
began  to  beat  the  wretched  man  violently  on  the 
eyes.  Therefore,  when  blood  had  filled  his  mouth 
and  eyes,  he  fell  down,  and  they  nevertheless 
continued  to  beat  him  on  the  sides  while  lying  on 
the  ground,  till  he  at  last  said  he  would  give 
security.  He,  having  been  treated  in  this  manner, 
was  taken  away  from  the  place  as  dead,  and,  in  a 
short  time  afterwards,  he  died.  But  that  devoted 
servant  of  Venus,  that  man  so  rich  in  wit  and 
courtesy,  erected  in  the  temple  of  Venus  a  silver 
statue  out  of  the  dead  man's  property.  And  in 
this  way  he  misused  the  fortunes  of  men  to  fulfil 


148  Cicero 

the  nightly  vows  made  by  him  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  desires. 

But  why  should  I  speak  separately  of  all  the 
other  punishments  inflicted  on  Roman  citizens, 
rather  than  generally,  and  in  the  lump?  That 
prison  which  was  built  at  Syracuse  by  that  most 
cruel  tyrant  Dionysius,  which  is  called  the  stone- 
quarries,  was,  under  his  government,  the  home  of 
Roman  citizens.  When  any  one  of  them  offended 
this  man's  eyes  or  mind,  he  was  instantly  thrown 
into  the  stone-quarries.  I  see  that  this  appears  a 
scandalous  thing  to  you,  O  judges  ;  and  1  observed 
that  it  so  appeared  at  the  former  pleading,  when 
the  witnesses  stated  these  things  ;  for  you  thought 
that  the  privileges  of  freedom  ought  to  be  main- 
tained, not  only  here,  where  there  are  tribunes  of  the 
people,  where  there  are  other  magistrates,  where 
there  is  a  Forum  with  many  courts  of  justice, 
where  there  is  the  authority  of  the  Senate,  where 
there  is  the  opinion  of  the  Roman  people  to  hold 
a  man  in  check,  where  the  Roman  people  itself  is 
present  in  great  numbers  ;  but  in  whatever  country 
or  nation  the  privileges  of  Roman  citizens  are  vio- 
lated, you,  O  judges,  decide  that  that  violation 
concerns  the  common  cause  of  freedom  and  your 
dignity.  Did  you,  O  Verres,  dare  to  confine  such 
a  number  of  Roman  citizens  in  a  prison  built  for 
foreigners,  for  wicked  men,  for  pirates,  and  for 
enemies  ?    Did  no  thoughts  of  this  tribunal,  or 


On  the  Punishments  149 

of  the  public  assembly,  or  of  this  numerous  mul- 
titude which  I  see  around  me,  and  which  is 
now  regarding  you  with  a  most  hostile  and  in- 
imical disposition,  occur  to  your  mind  ?  Did  not 
the  dignity  of  the  Roman  people,  though  absent, 
did  not  the  appearance  of  such  a  concourse  as 
this,  ever  present  itself  to  your  eyes  or  to  your 
thoughts  ?  Did  you  never  think  that  you  would 
have  to  return  home  to  the  sight  of  these  men, 
that  you  would  have  to  come  into  the  Forum  of 
the  Roman  people,  that  you  would  have  to  sub- 
mit yourself  to  the  power  of  the  laws  and  courts 
of  justice  ? 

But  what,  O  Verres,  was  that  passion  of  yours 
for  practising  cruelty  ?  what  was  your  reason  for 
undertaking  so  many  wicked  actions  ?  It  was 
nothing,  O  judges,  except  a  new  and  unprece- 
dented system  of  plundering.  For,  like  those  men 
whose  histories  we  have  learnt  from  the  poets, 
who  are  said  to  have  occupied  some  bays  on  the 
seacoast,  or  some  promontories,  or  some  precipi- 
tous rocks,  in  order  to  be  able  to  murder  those 
who  had  been  driven  to  such  places  in  their  ves- 
sels, this  man  also  looked  down  as  an  enemy  over 
every  sea,  from  every  part  of  Sicily.  Every  ship 
that  came  from  Asia,  from  Syria,  from  Tyre,  from 
Alexandria,  was  immediately  seized  by  informers 
and  guards  upon  whom  he  could  rely  ;  their 
crews  were  all  thrown  into  the  stone-quarries,  their 


150  Cicero 

freights  and  merchandise  carried  up  into  the  prae- 
tor's house.  There  was  seen  to  range  through 
Sicily,  after  a  long  interval,  not  another  Dionysius, 
not  another  Phalaris  (for  that  island  has  at  one 
time  or  another  produced  many  inhuman  tyrants), 
but  a  new  sort  of  monster  endowed  with  all  the 
ancient  savage  barbarity  which  is  said  to  have 
formerly  existed  in  those  same  districts ;  for  I  do 
not  think  that  either  Scylla  or  Charybdis  was  such 
an  enemy  to  sailors  as  that  man  has  been  in  the 
same  waters.  And  in  one  respect  he  is  far  more 
to  be  dreaded  than  they,  because  he  is  girdled 
with  more  numerous  and  more  powerful  hounds 
than  were  they.  He  is  a  second  Cyclops,  far  more 
savage  than  the  first,  for  Verres  had  possession 
of  the  whole  island ;  Polyphemus  is  said  to  have 
occupied  only  y^tna  and  that  part  of  Sicily.  But 
what  pretext  was  alleged  at  the  time  by  that  man 
for  this  outrageous  cruelty  ?  The  same  which  is 
now  going  to  be  stated  in  his  defence.  He  used 
to  say,  whenever  any  one  came  to  Sicily  a  little 
better  off  than  usual,  that  they  were  soldiers  of 
Sertorius,  and  that  they  were  flying  from  Dianium. 
They  brought  him  presents  to  gain  his  protection 
from  danger ;  some  brought  him  Tyrian  purple, 
others  brought  frankincense,  perfumes,  and  linen 
robes  ;  others  gave  jewels  and  pearls  ;  some  offered 
great  bribes  and  Asiatic  slaves,  so  that  it  was  seen 
by  their  very  goods  from  what  place  they  came. 


On  the  Punishments  151 

They  were  not  aware  that  those  very  things  which 
they  thought  they  were  employing  as  aids  to  in- 
sure their  safety  were  the  causes  of  their  danger. 
For  he  would  claim  that  they  had  acquired  those 
things  by  partnership  with  pirates  ;  he  would  order 
the  men  themselves  to  be  led  away  to  the  stone- 
quarries  ;  he  would  see  that  their  ships  and  their 
freights  were  diligently  taken  care  of. 

When  by  these  practices  his  prison  had  become 
full  of  merchants,  then  took  place  those  scenes 
which  you  have  heard  related  by  Lucius  Suetius,  a 
Roman  knight  and  a  most  virtuous  man,  and  by 
others.  The  necks  of  Roman  citizens  were  in- 
famously broken  in  the  prison,  so  that  that  very 
expression  and  form  of  entreaty,  'M  am  a  Roman 
citizen,"  which  has  often  brought  to  many,  in 
the  most  distant  countries,  succor  and  assistance, 
even  among  the  barbarians,  only  brought  to  these 
men  a  more  bitter  death  and  a  more  immediate 
execution.  What  is  this,  O  Verres  ?  What  reply 
are  you  thinking  of  making  to  this  ?  That  I  am 
telling  lies  ?  that  I  am  inventing  things  ?  that  I 
am  exaggerating  this  accusation  ?  Will  you  dare 
to  say  any  one  of  these  things  to  those  men  who 
are  defending  you?  Give  me,  1  pray  you,  the 
documents  of  the  Syracusans  taken  from  his  own 
bosom,  which,  methinks,  were  drawn  up  accord- 
ing to  his  will  ;  give  me  the  register  of  the  prison, 
which  is  most  carefully  made  up,  stating  in  what 


152  Cicero 

day  each  individual  was  committed  to  prison, 
when  he  died,  how  he  was  executed. 
[The  documents  of  the  Syracusans  are  read.] 
You  see  that  Roman  citizens  were  thrown  into 
the  stone-quarries ;  you  see  that  a  multitude  of 
your  fellow-citizens  were  heaped  together  in  a 
most  unworthy  place.  Look  now  for  all  the  traces 
which  are  to  be  found  of  their  departure  from  that 
place.  There  are  none.  Are  they  all  dead  of  dis- 
ease ?  If  he  were  able  to  urge  this  in  his  defence, 
still  such  a  defence  would  find  credit  with  no  one. 
But  there  is  a  word  written  in  these  documents 
which  that  ignorant  and  profligate  man  never  no- 
ticed and  would  not  have  understood  if  he  had : 
'EdiKaiGodrjaav,  it  says — that  is,  according  to  the  Sicil- 
ian language,  they  were  punished  and  put  to  death. 
If  any  king,  if  any  city  among  foreign  nations, 
if  any  nation  had  done  anything  of  this  sort  to 
a  Roman  citizen,  should  we  not  avenge  that  act 
by  a  public  revolution  ?  should  we  not  prosecute 
our  revenge  by  war  ?  Could  we  leave  unavenged 
and  unpunished  such  injury  and  insult  offered  to 
the  Roman  name  ?  How  many  and  what  serious 
wars  do  you  think  that  our  ancestors  undertook 
because  Roman  citizens  were  said  to  have  been 
ill  treated,  Roman  vessels  detained,  or  Roman 
merchants  plundered  ?  But  I  am  not  complaining 
that  men  have  been  detained :  I  think  one  might 
pass  over  their  having   been   plundered ;    I   am 


On  the  Punishments  i53 

impeaching  Verres  because  that,  after  their  ships, 
their  slaves,  and  their  merchandise  had  been 
taken  from  them,  the  merchants  themselves  were 
thrown  into  prison— because  Roman  citizens  were 
imprisoned  and  executed.  If  I  were  saying  this 
among  Scythians,  not  before  such  a  multitude 
of  Roman  citizens,  not  before  the  most  select 
senators  of  the  city,  not  in  the  Forum  of  the 
Roman  people, — if  I  were  relating  such  numerous 
and  bitter  punishments  inflicted  on  Roman  citi- 
zens, I  should  move  the  pity  of  even  those  bar- 
barous men.  For  so  great  is  the  dignity  of  this 
Empire,  so  great  is  the  honor  in  which  the  Roman 
name  is  held  among  all  nations,  that  the  exercise 
of  such  cruelty  towards  our  citizens  is  permitted 
to  no  one.  Can  I  think  that  there  is  any  safety 
or  any  refuge  for  you,  Verres,  when  1  see  you 
hemmed  in  by  the  severity  of  the  judges,  and 
entangled,  as  it  were,  in  the  meshes  of  a  net  by 
the  concourse  of  the  Roman  people  here  present  ? 
If,  indeed  (though  I  have  no  idea  that  this  is 
possible),  you  were  to  escape  from  these  toils,  and 
effect  your  escape  by  any  way  or  any  method, 
you  will  then  fall  into  that  still  greater  net  in 
which  you  must  be  caught  and  destroyed  by  me 
from  the  elevation  on  which  I  stand.  For  even 
if  I  were  to  grant  him  all  that  he  urges  in  his  de- 
fence, it  must  turn  out  not  less  injurious  to  him 
than  my  true  accusation. 


154  Cicero 

For  what  does  he  urge  in  his  defence  ?  He 
says  that  he  arrested  men  flying  from  Spain,  and 
put  them  to  death.  Who  gave  you  leave  to  do 
so  ?  By  what  right  did  you  do  so  ?  Who  else 
did  the  same  thing  ?  How  was  it  lawful  for  you 
to  do  so  ?  We  see  the  Forum  and  the  Porticos 
full  of  those  men,  and  are  contented  to  see  them 
there.  For  the  end  of  civil  dissensions,  and  of  the 
(shall  1  say)  insanity,  or  destiny,  or  calamity  in 
which  they  take  their  rise,  is  not  so  grievous  as  to 
make  it  unlawful  for  us  to  preserve  the  rest  of  our 
citizens  in  safety.  This  Verres,  this  ancient  be- 
trayer of  his  consul,  this  transferrer  of  the  quaes- 
torship,  this  embezzler  of  the  public  money,  has 
taken  upon  himself  so  much  authority  in  the  Re- 
public that  he  would  have  inflicted  a  bitter  and 
cruel  death  on  all  those  men  whom  the  Senate, 
and  the  Roman  people,  and  the  magistrates  al- 
lowed to  remain  in  the  Forum  in  the  exercise 
of  their  rights  of  voters,  in  the  city  and  in 
the  Republic,  if  fortune  had  brought  them  to 
any  part  of  Sicily.  After  Perperna  was  slain, 
many  of  the  number  of  Sertorius's  soldiers  fled  to 
Cn^us  Pompeius,  that  most  illustrious  and  gallant 
man.  Was  there  one  of  them  whom  he  did  not 
with  the  greatest  kindness  preserve  safe  and  un- 
hurt ?  was  there  one  suppliant  citizen  to  whom 
that  invincible  right  hand  was  not  stretched  out 
as  a  pledge  of  his  faith,  and  as  a  sure  token  of 


On  the  Punishments  155 

safety  ?  Was  it,  then,  so  ?  Was  death  and  torture 
appointed  by  you,  who  had  never  done  one  im- 
portant service  to  the  Republic,  for  those  who 
found  a  harbor  of  refuge  in  that  man  against  whom 
they  had  borne  arms?  See  what  an  admirable 
defence  you  have  imagined  for  yourself! 

I  had  rather,  I  had  rather  indeed,  that  the  truth 
of  this  defence  of  yours  were  proved  to  these 
judges  and  to  the  Roman  people  than  the  truth 
of  my  accusation.  1  had  rather,  I  say,  that  you 
were  thought  a  foe  and  an  enemy  to  that  class  of 
men  than  to  merchants  and  seafaring  men.  For 
the  accusation  I  bring  against  you  impeaches  you 
of  excessive  avarice ;  the  defence  that  you  make 
for  yourself  accuses  you  of  a  sort  of  frenzy,  of 
savage  ferocity,  of  unheard-of  cruelty,  and  of 
almost  a  new  proscription.  But  1  may  not  avail 
myself  of  such  an  advantage  as  that,  O  judges  ;  I 
may  not,  for  all  Puteoli  is  here  ;  merchants  in 
crowds  have  come  to  this  trial,  wealthy  and  hon- 
orable men,  who  will  tell  you,  some  that  their 
partners,  some  that  their  freedmen,  were  plundered 
by  that  man,  and  were  thrown  into  prison  ;  that 
some  were  privately  murdered  in  prison,  some 
publicly  executed.  See,  now,  how  impartially  1 
will  behave  to  you.  When  1  produce  Publius 
Granius  as  a  witness  to  state  that  his  freedmen 
were  publicly  executed  by  you,  to  demand  back 
his  ship  and  his  merchandise  from  you,  refute  him 


156  Cicero 

if  you  can  ;  I  will  abandon  my  own  witness  and 
take  your  part ;  I  will  assist  you,  I  say  ;  prove  that 
those  men  have  been  with  Sertorius,  and  that, 
when  flying  from  Dianium,  they  were  driven  to 
Sicily.  There  is  nothing  which  I  would  rather 
have  you  prove.  For  no  crime  can  be  imagined 
or  produced  against  you  which  is  worthy  of  a 
greater  punishment.  I  will  call  back  the  Roman 
knight,  Lucius  Flavins,  if  you  wish  ;  since  at  the 
previous  pleading,  being  influenced,  as  your  advo- 
cates are  in  the  habit  of  saying,  by  some  unusual 
prudence,  but  (as  all  men  are  aware),  being  over- 
powered by  your  own  conscience  and  by  the 
authority  of  my  witnesses,  you  did  not  put  a 
question  to  any  single  witness.  Let  Flavins  be 
asked,  if  you  like,  who  Lucius  Herennius  was,  the 
man  who,  he  says,  was  a  money-changer  at  Lep- 
tis ;  who,  though  he  had  more  than  a  hundred 
Roman  citizens  in  the  body  of  settlers  at  Syracuse 
who  not  only  knew  him,  but  defended  him  with 
their  tears  and  with  entreaties  to  you,  was  still 
publicly  executed  by  you  in  the  sight  of  all  the 
Syracusans.  1  am  very  willing  that  this  witness 
of  mine  should  also  be  refuted,  and  that  it  should 
be  demonstrated  and  proved  by  you  that  Heren- 
nius had  been  one  of  Sertorius's  soldiers. 

What  shall  we  say  of  that  multitude  of  men  who 
were  produced  with  veiled  heads  among  the  pirates 
and  prisoners  in  order  to  be  executed  ?    What  was 


On  the  Punishments  157 

that  new  scheme  of  yours,  and  on  what  account 
was  it  put  in  operation  ?  Had  the  loud  outcries 
of  Lucius  Flavins  and  the  rest  concerning  Lucius 
Herennius  influenced  you  ?  Had  the  excessive  in- 
fluence of  Marcus  Annius,  a  most  influential  and 
most  honorable  man,  made  you  a  little  more  care- 
ful and  more  fearful  ?  he  who  lately  stated  in  his 
evidence  that  it  was  not  some  stranger,  no  one 
knows  who,  nor  any  foreigner,  but  a  Roman  citi- 
zen, who  was  well  known  to  the  whole  body  of  in- 
habitants, who  had  been  born  at  Syracuse,  who 
had  been  publicly  executed  by  you.  After  this 
public  statement  of  theirs, — after  this  had  become 
known  by  the  common  conversation  and  common 
complaints  of  all  men,  he  began  to  be,  I  will  not 
say  more  merciful  in  his  punishments,  but  more 
careful.  He  established  the  rule  of  bringing  out 
Roman  citizens  for  punishment  with  their  heads 
muffled  up, — whom,  however,  he  put  to  death  in 
the  sight  of  all  men, — because  the  citizens  (as  we 
have  said  before)  were  calculating  the  number  of 
pirates  with  too  much  accuracy.  Was  this  the 
condition  that  was  established  for  the  Roman 
people  while  you  were  prastor  ?  were  these  the 
hopes  under  which  they  were  to  transact  their 
business  ?  was  this  the  danger  in  which  their  lives 
and  condition  as  freemen  were  placed  ?  are  there 
not  enough  risks  at  the  hands  of  fortune  to  be  en- 
countered of  necessity  by  merchants,  that  they 


158  Cicero 

should  be  also  threatened  with  these  terrors  by 
our  magistrates,  and  in  our  provinces  ?  Was  this 
a  state  to  which  it  was  fitting  to  reduce  that  sub- 
urban and  loyal  province  of  Sicily, — full  of  most 
valued  allies  and  of  most  honorable  Roman  citizens, 
which  had  at  all  times  received  with  the  greatest 
willingness  all  Roman  citizens  within  its  territo- 
ries,— that  those  who  were  sailing  from  the  most 
distant  parts  of  Syria  or  Egypt,  who  had  been  held 
in  some  honor,  even  among  barbarians,  on  account 
of  their  name  as  Roman  citizens,  who  had  escaped 
from  the  ambushes  of  pirates,  from  the  dangers  of 
tempests,  should  be  publicly  executed  in  Sicily 
when  they  thought  that  they  had  at  last  reached 
their  home  ? 

Why  should  I  speak  of  Publius  Gavius,  a  citizen 
of  the  municipality  of  Cosa,  O  judges  ?  or  with 
what  vigor  of  language,  with  what  gravity  of  ex- 
pression, with  what  grief  of  mind,  shall  I  mention 
him  ?  But,  indeed,  words  of  indignation  fail  me. 
I  must  take  more  care  than  usual  that  what  1  am 
going  to  say  be  worthy  of  my  subject, — worthy 
of  the  indignation  which  I  feel.  For  the  charge  is 
of  such  a  nature  that  when  I  was  first  informed  of 
it  I  thought  I  should  not  avail  myself  of  it.  For 
although  I  knew  that  it  was  entirely  true,  still 
1  thought  that  it  would  not  appear  credible.  Be- 
ing compelled  by  the  tears  of  all  the  Roman  citi- 
zens who  are  living  as  traders  in  Sicily  ;  being 


On  the  Punishments  159 

influenced  by  the  testimonies  of  the  men  of  Valen- 
tia,  most  honorable  men,  and  by  those  of  all  the 
Rhegians,  and  of  many  Roman  knights  who  hap- 
pened at  that  time  to  be  at  Messana,  I  produced  at 
the  previous  pleading  only  just  that  amount  of 
evidence  which  might  prevent  the  matter  from 
appearing  doubtful  to  any  one.  What  shall  I  do 
now  ?  When  I  have  been  speaking  for  so  many 
hours  of  one  class  of  offences,  and  of  that  man's 
nefarious  cruelty ;  when  I  have  now  expended 
nearly  all  my  treasure  of  words  of  such  a  sort 
as  are  worthy  of  that  man's  wickedness  on  other 
matters,  and  have  omitted  to  take  precautions 
to  keep  your  attention  on  the  stretch  by  diversi- 
fying my  accusations,  how  am  I  to  deal  with  an 
affair  of  such  importance  as  this  ?  There  is,  I 
think,  but  one  method,  but  one  line  open  to  me  : 
I  will  place  the  matter  plainly  before  you,  since  it 
is  of  itself  of  such  importance  that  there  is  no  need 
of  my  eloquence — and  eloquence,  indeed,  I  have 
none,  but  there  is  no  need  of  any  one's  eloquence 
to  excite  your  feelings.  This  Gavins  of  whom 
I  am  speaking,  a  citizen  of  Cosa,  when  he  (among 
that  vast  number  of  Roman  citizens  who  had  been 
treated  in  the  same  way)  had  been  thrown  by 
Verres  into  prison,  and  somehow  or  other  had 
secretly  escaped  out  of  the  stone-quarries,  and  had 
come  to  Messana,  being  now  almost  within  sight 
of  Italy  and  of  the  walls  of  Rhegium,  and  being 


i6o  Cicero 

revived,  after  that  fear  of  death  and  that  darkness, 
by  the  light,  as  it  were,  of  liberty  and  the  fra- 
grance of  the  laws,  began  to  talk  at  Messana,  and 
to  complain  that  he,  a  Roman  citizen,  had  been 
thrown  into  prison.  He  said  that  he  was  now  go- 
ing straight  to  Rome,  and  that  he  would  meet 
Verres  on  his  arrival  there. 

The  miserable  man  was  not  aware  that  it  made 
no  difference  whether  he  said  this  at  Messana  or 
before  the  man's  face  in  his  own  pr^torian  palace. 
For,  as  I  have  shown  you  before,  that  man  had 
selected  this  city  as  the  assistant  in  his  crimes, 
the  receiver  of  his  thefts,  the  partner  in  all  his  wick- 
edness. Accordingly,  Gavins  is  at  once  brought 
before  the  Mamertine  magistrates  ;  and,  as  it  hap- 
pens, Verres  comes  on  that  very  day  to  Messana. 
The  matter  is  brought  before  him.  He  is  told  that 
the  man  is  a  Roman  citizen,  who  was  complaining 
that  at  Syracuse  he  had  been  confined  in  the 
stone-quarries,  and  who,  when  he  was  actually 
embarking  on  board  ship,  uttering  violent  threats 
against  Verres,  has  been  brought  back  by  them, 
and  held  in  order  that  Verres  himself  might  decide 
what  should  be  done  with  him.  He  thanks  the 
men  and  praises  their  good-will  and  diligence  in 
his  behalf.  He  himself,  inflamed  with  wickedness 
and  frenzy,  comes  into  the  Forum.  His  eyes  glare  ; 
cruelty  is  visible  in  his  whole  countenance.  All 
men  wait  to  see  what  steps  he  is  going  to  take, — 


On  the  Punishments  i6i 

what  he  is  going  to  do  ;  when  suddenly  he  orders 
the  man  to  be  seized,  to  be  stripped  and  bound 
in  the  middle  of  the  Forum,  and  the  rods  to  be  got 
ready.  The  miserable  man  cries  out  that  he  is 
a  Roman  citizen,  a  citizen,  also,  of  the  municipal 
town  of  Cosa,— that  he  has  served  with  Lucius 
Pretius,  a  most  illustrious  Roman  knight,  who  is 
living  as  a  trader  at  Panormus,  and  from  whom 
Verres  might  know  that  he  is  speaking  the  truth. 
Then  Verres  says  that  he  has  ascertained  that  the 
man  was  sent  into  Sicily  by  the  leaders  of  the 
runaway  slaves,  in  order  to  act  as  a  spy  ;  a  matter 
as  to  which  there  was  no  witness,  no  evidence, 
nor  even  the  slightest  suspicion  in  the  mind  of 
any  one.  Then  he  orders  the  man  to  be  most  vio- 
lently scourged  on  all  sides.  In  the  middle  of  the 
Forum  of  Messana,  a  Roman  citizen,  O  judges, 
was  beaten  with  rods ;  while  in  the  meantime  no 
groan  was  heard,  no  other  expression  was  heard 
from  that  wretched  man,  amid  all  his  pain,  and 
between  the  sound  of  the  blows,  except  these 
words,  "  I  am  a  citizen  of  Rome."  He  fancied 
that  by  this  one  statement  of  his  citizenship 
he  could  ward  off  all  blows  and  remove  all  tor- 
ture from  his  person.  He  not  only  did  not 
succeed  by  his  entreaties  in  averting  the  vio- 
lence of  the  rods,  but  as  he  continued  to  re- 
peat his  entreaties  and  the  assertion  of  his  citi- 
zenship,  a  cross,    I  say,   was  prepared  for  that 


VOL.  n.— II 


1 62  Cicero 

miserable  man,  who  had  never  witnessed  such  a 
stretch  of  power. 

O  the  sweet  name  of  liberty  !  O  the  admirable 
privileges  of  our  citizenship  !  O  Porcian  law  !  O 
Sempronian  laws  !  O  power  of  the  tribunes,  bit- 
terly regretted  by,  and  at  last  restored  to,  the  Ro- 
man people  !  Have  all  our  rights  fallen  so  far  that 
in  a  province  of  the  Roman  people,  in  a  town  of 
our  confederate  allies,  a  Roman  citizen  should  be 
bound  in  the  Forum  and  beaten  with  rods  by  a 
man  who  only  had  the  fasces  and  the  axes  through 
the  kindness  of  the  Roman  people  ?  What  shall  I 
say,  when  fire,  and  red-hot  plates,  and  other  in- 
struments of  torture  were  employed  ?  If  the  bitter 
entreaties  and  the  miserable  cries  of  that  man  had 
no  power  to  restrain  you,  O  Verres,  were  you  not 
moved  even  by  the  weeping  and  loud  groans  of 
the  Roman  citizens  who  were  present  ?  Did  you 
dare  to  drag  to  the  cross  any  one  who  said  that  he 
was  a  Roman  citizen  ?  I  was  unwilling,  O  judges, 
to  press  this  point  so  strongly  at  the  former  plead- 
ing ;  I  was  unwilling  to  do  so.  For  you  saw  how 
the  feelings  of  the  multitude  were  excited  against 
him  with  indignation,  hatred,  and  fear  of  their 
common  danger.  I,  at  that  time,  fixed  a  limit  to 
my  oration,  and  checked  the  eagerness  of  Caius 
Numitorius,  a  Roman  knight,  a  man  of  the  highest 
character,  one  of  my  witnesses.  And  I  rejoiced 
that  Glabrio  had  acted  (and  he  had  acted  most 


On  the  Punishments  163 

wisely)  as  he  did  in  dismissing  that  witness  imme- 
diately, in  the  middle  of  the  discussion.  In  fact, 
he  was  afraid  that  the  Roman  people  might  seem 
to  have  inflicted  that  punishment  on  Verres  by 
tumultuary  violence  which  he  was  anxious  he 
should  only  suffer  according  to  the  laws  and  by 
your  judicial  sentence.  Now,  since  it  is  made  clear 
beyond  a  doubt  to  every  one  in  what  state  your 
case  is,  and  what  will  become  of  you,  1  will  deal 
thus  with  you  :  1  will  prove  that  that  Gavius, 
whom  you  all  of  a  sudden  assert  to  have  been 
a  spy,  had  been  confined  by  you  in  the  stone- 
quarries  at  Syracuse ;  and  1  will  prove  that,  not 
only  by  the  registers  of  the  Syracusans, — lest  you 
should  be  able  to  say  that,  because  there  is  a  man 
named  Gavius  mentioned  in  those  documents,  I 
have  invented  this  charge,  and  picked  out  this 
name  so  as  to  be  able  to  say  that  this  is  the  man, 
— but  in  accordance  with  your  own  choice  1  will 
produce  witnesses  who  will  state  that  that  identi- 
cal man  was  thrown  by  you  into  the  stone-quar- 
ries at  Syracuse.  I  will  produce,  also,  citizens  of 
Cosa,  his  fellow-citizens  and  relatives,  who  shall 
show  you,  though  it  is  too  late,  and  who  shall 
also  show  the  judges  (for  it  is  not  too  late  for  them 
to  know  these  facts),  that  Publius  Gavius,  whom 
you  crucified,  was  a  Roman  citizen,  and  a  citizen 
of  the  municipality  of  Cosa,  not  a  spy  of  runaway 
slaves. 


1 64  Cicero 

When  I  have  made  all  these  points,  which  I 
undertake  to  prove,  abundantly  plain  to  your 
most  intimate  friends,  then  I  will  also  turn  my 
attention  to  that  which  is  granted  me  by  you. 
I  will  say  that  1  am  content  with  that.  For  what, 
— what,  I  say,  did  you  yourself  lately  say,  when 
in  an  agitated  state  you  escaped  from  the  outcry 
and  violence  of  the  Roman  people  ?  Why,  that 
Gavius  had  only  cried  out  that  he  was  a  Roman 
citizen  because  he  was  seeking  some  respite,  but 
that  he  was  a  spy.  My  witnesses  are  unimpeach- 
able. For  what  else  does  Caius  Numitorius  say  ? 
what  else  do  Marcus  and  Publius  Cottius  say, 
most  noble  men  of  the  district  of  Tauromenium  ? 
what  else  does  Marcus  Lucceius  say,  who  had 
a  great  business  as  a  money-changer  at  Rhegium  ? 
what  else  do  all  the  others  say  ?  For  as  yet  wit- 
nesses have  only  been  produced  by  me  of  this 
class ;  not  men  who  say  that  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  Gavius,  but  men  who  say  that  they 
saw  him  at  the  time  he  was  being  dragged  to  the 
cross  while  crying  out  that  he  was  a  Roman 
citizen.  And  you,  O  Verres,  say  the  same  thing. 
You  confess  that  he  did  cry  out  that  he  was  a 
Roman  citizen  ;  but  that  the  name  of  citizenship 
did  not  avail  with  you  even  so  much  as  to  cause 
the  least  hesitation  in  your  mind,  or  even  any 
brief  respite  from  a  most  cruel  and  ignominious 
punishment.    This  is  the  point  I  press,  this  is 


On  the  Punishments  165 

what  I  dwell  upon,  O  judges  ;  with  this  single  fact 
I  am  content.  1  give  up,  1  am  indifferent  to,  all 
the  rest.  By  his  own  confession  he  must  be  en- 
tangled and  destroyed.  You  did  not  know  who 
he  was,  O  Verres ;  you  suspected  that  he  was 
a  spy.  I  do  not  ask  you  what  were  your  grounds 
for  that  suspicion,  1  impeach  you  by  your  own 
words.  He  said  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen. 
If  you,  O  Verres,  being  taken  among  the  Persians 
or  in  the  remotest  parts  of  India,  were  being  led 
to  execution,  what  else  would  you  cry  out  but 
that  you  were  a  Roman  citizen  ?  And  if  that 
name  of  your  city,  honored  and  renowned  as 
it  is  among  all  men,  would  have  availed  you,  a 
stranger  among  strangers,  among  barbarians, 
among  men  placed  in  the  most  remote  and  distant 
corners  of  the  earth,  ought  not  he,  whoever  he 
was,  whom  you  were  hurrying  to  the  cross,  who 
was  a  stranger  to  you,  to  have  been  able,  when 
he  said  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen,  to  obtain 
from  you,  the  pr^tor,  if  not  escape,  at  least  a  res- 
pite from  death  by  his  mention  of  and  claims  to 
citizenship  ? 

Men  of  no  importance,  born  in  an  obscure  rank, 
go  to  sea ;  they  go  to  places  which  they  have 
never  before  seen  ;  where  they  can  neither  be 
known  to  the  men  among  whom  they  have  ar- 
rived, nor  always  find  people  to  vouch  for  them. 
But  still,  owing  to  this  confidence  in  the  mere 


1 66  Cicero 

fact  of  their  citizenship,  they  think  that  they  shall 
be  safe,  not  only  among  our  own  magistrates,  who 
are  restrained  by  fear  of  the  laws  and  of  public 
opinion,  nor  only  among  our  fellow-citizens,  who 
are  united  with  them  by  community  of  language, 
of  rights,  and  of  many  other  things  ;  but  wherever 
they  come  they  think  that  this  will  be  a  protec- 
tion from  Roman  citizens.  Establish  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  assistance  to  be  found  in  the  words, 
"1  am  a  Roman  citizen";  that  a  praetor  or  any 
other  officer  may  with  impunity  order  any  pun- 
ishment he  pleases  to  be  inflicted  on  a  man  who 
says  that  he  is  a  Roman  citizen,  though  no  one 
knows  that  it  is  not  true ;  and  at  one  blow,  by 
admitting  that  defence,  you  cut  off  from  the 
Roman  citizens  all  the  provinces,  all  the  king- 
doms, all  the  free  cities,  and  indeed  the  whole 
world,  which  has  hitherto  been  open  most  espe- 
cially to  our  countrymen.  But  what  shall  be  said 
if  Gavius  named  Lucius  Pretius,  a  Roman  knight, 
who  was  at  that  time  living  in  Sicily  as  a  trader, 
as  a  man  who  would  vouch  for  him  ?  Was  it  a 
very  great  undertaking  to  send  letters  to  Panor- 
mus  ?  to  keep  the  man  ?  to  detain  him  in  prison, 
confined  in  the  custody  of  your  dear  friends,  the 
Mamertines,  till  Pretius  came  from  Panormus  ? 
Did  he  know  the  man  ?  Then  you  might  remit 
some  part  of  the  extreme  punishment.  Did  he 
not  know  him  ?    Then,  if  you  thought  fit,  you 


On  the  Punishments  167 

might  establish  this  law  for  all  people,  that  who- 
ever was  not  known  to  you,  and  could  not  pro- 
duce a  rich  man  to  vouch  for  him,  even  though  he 
were  a  Roman  citizen,  was  still  to  be  crucified. 

But  why  need  I  say  more  about  Gavins  ?  as  if 
you  were  hostile  only  to  Gavius,  and  not  rather  an 
enemy  to  the  name  and  class  of  citizens,  and  to  all 
their  rights.  You  were  not,  1  say,  an  enemy  to  the 
individual,  but  to  the  common  cause  of  liberty. 
For  what  was  your  object  in  ordering  the  Mamer- 
tines,  when,  according  to  their  regular  custom  and 
usage,  they  had  erected  the  cross  behind  the  city 
in  the  Pompeian  road,  to  place  it  where  it  looked 
toward  the  strait ;  and  in  adding,  what  you  can  by 
no  means  deny,  what  you  said  openly  in  the  hear- 
ing of  every  one,  that  you  chose  that  place  in  or- 
der that  the  man  who  said  that  he  was  a  Roman 
citizen  might  be  able  from  his  cross  to  behold  Italy 
and  to  look  towards  his  own  home  ?  And  accord- 
ingly, O  judges,  that  cross,  for  the  first  time  since 
the  foundation  of  Messana,  was  erected  in  that 
place.  A  spot  commanding  a  view  of  Italy  was 
picked  out  by  that  man  for  the  express  purpose 
that  the  wretched  man  who  was  dying  in  agony 
and  torture  might  see  that  the  rights  of  liberty  and 
of  slavery  were  only  separated  by  a  very  narrow 
strait,  and  that  Italy  might  behold  her  son  mur- 
dered by  the  most  miserable  and  most  painful 
punishment,  appropriate  only  to  slaves. 


1 68  Cicero 

To  bind  a  Roman  citizen  is  a  crime  ;  to  scourge 
him  is  a  wickedness  ;  to  put  him  to  death  is  almost 
a  parricide.  What  shall  1  say  of  crucifying  him  ? 
So  guilty  an  action  cannot  by  any  possibility  be 
expressed  by  any  name  bad  enough  for  it.  Yet, 
with  all  this,  that  man  was  not  content.  ''  Let 
him  behold  his  country,"  said  he;  'Met  him  die 
within  sight  of  laws  and  liberty."  It  was  not 
Gavius,  it  was  not  one  unknown  individual, — 
it  was  not  one  Roman  citizen, — it  was  the  com- 
mon cause  of  freedom  and  citizenship  that  you 
exposed  to  that  torture  and  nailed  on  that  cross. 
But  now  consider  the  audacity  of  that  man.  Do 
you  not  think  that  he  was  indignant  that  he  could 
not  erect  that  cross  for  Roman  citizens  in  the 
Forum,  in  the  comitium,  in  the  very  rostra  ?  For 
he  selected  the  place  in  his  province  which  was 
the  most  like  those  places  in  celebrity  and  the 
nearest  to  them  in  point  of  distance.  He  chose 
that  monument  of  his  wickedness  and  audacity 
to  be  in  sight  of  Italy,  in  the  very  vestibule  of 
Sicily,  within  sight  of  all  passers-by  as  they  sailed 
to  and  fro. 

If  I  were  to  choose  to  make  these  complaints 
and  to  utter  these  lamentations,  not  to  Roman 
citizens,  not  to  any  friends  of  our  city,  not  to  men 
who  had  heard  of  the  name  of  the  Roman  people  ; 
if  I  uttered  them  not  to  men  but  to  beasts  :  or,  even 
to  go  further,  if  I   uttered  them  in  some  most 


On  the  Punishments  169 

desolate  wilderness  to  the  stones  and  rocks,  still 
all  things,  mute  and  inanimate  as  they  might  be, 
would  be  moved  by  such  excessive,  by  such  scan- 
dalous atrocity  of  conduct.  But  now,  when  I  am 
speaking  before  senators  of  the  Roman  people,  the 
authors  of  the  laws,  of  the  courts  of  justice,  and  of 
all  right,  1  ought  not  to  fear  that  that  man  will  not 
be  judged  to  be  the  only  Roman  citizen  deserving 
of  that  cross  of  his,  and  that  all  others  will  not  be 
judged  most  undeserving  of  such  a  danger.  A 
little  while  ago,  O  judges,  we  did  not  restrain  our 
tears  at  the  miserable  and  most  unworthy  death  of 
the  naval  captains ;  and  it  was  right  for  us  to  be 
moved  by  the  misery  of  our  innocent  allies  :  what 
now  ought  we  to  do,  when  the  lives  of  our  relatives 
are  concerned  ?  For  the  blood  of  all  Romian  citi- 
zens ought  to  be  accounted  kindred  blood  ;  since 
the  consideration  of  the  common  safety  and  truth 
requires  it.  All  the  Roman  citizens  in  this  place, 
both  those  who  are  present  and  those  who  are 
absent  in  distant  lands,  require  your  severity,  im- 
plore the  aid  of  your  good  faith,  look  anxiously  for 
your  assistance.  They  think  that  all  their  priv- 
ileges, all  their  advantages,  all  their  defences, — in 
short,  all  their  liberty, — depend  on  your  sentence. 
Now,  O  good  and  great  Jupiter,  you  whose 
royal  present,  worthy  of  your  most  splendid  tem- 
ple, worthy  of  the  Capitol  and  of  that  citadel  of 
all  nations,  worthy  of  being  the  gift  of  a  king, 


1 70  Cicero 

made  for  you  by  a  king,  dedicated  and  promised 
to  you,  that  man  by  his  nefarious  wickedness 
wrested  from  the  hands  of  a  monarch  ;  you  whose 
most  costly  and  most  beautiful  image  he  carried 
away  from  Syracuse  :  and  you,  O  royal  Juno, 
whose  two  temples,  situated  in  two  islands  of  our 
allies, — at  Melita  and  Samos, — temples  of  the  great- 
est sanctity  and  the  greatest  antiquity,  that  same 
man,  with  similar  wickedness,  stripped  of  all  their 
presents  and  ornaments :  and  you,  O  Minerva, 
whom  he  also  pillaged  in  two  of  your  most  re- 
nowned and  most  venerated  temples, — at  Athens, 
when  he  took  away  a  great  quantity  of  gold,  and 
at  Syracuse,  when  he  took  away  everything  ex- 
cept the  roof  and  walls :  and  you,  O  Latona,  O 
Apollo,  O  Diana,  whose  (I  will  not  say  temples, 
but,  as  the  universal  opinion  and  religious  be- 
lief agrees)  ancient  birthplace  and  divine  home  at 
Delos  he  plundered  by  a  nocturnal  robbery  and 
attack :  you  also,  O  Apollo,  whose  image  he  car- 
ried away  from  Chios  :  you,  again  and  again,  O 
Diana,  whom  he  plundered  at  Perga  ;  whose  most 
holy  image  at  Segesta,  where  it  had  been  twice 
consecrated, — once  by  their  own  religious  gift,  and 
a  second  time  by  the  victory  of  Publius  Africanus, 
— he  dared  to  take  away  and  remove :  and  you, 
O  Mercury,  whom  Verres  has  placed  in  his  villa 
and  in  some  private  palestra,  but  whom  Publius 
Africanus  had  placed  in  a  city  of  the  allies,  and  in 


On  the  Punishments  171 

the  gymnasium  of  the  Tyndaritans,  as  a  guardian 
and  protector  of  the  youth  of  the  city  :  and  you, 
O  Hercules,  whom  that  man  endeavored,  on  a 
stormy  night,  with  a  band  of  slaves  properly 
equipped  and  armed,  to  tear  down  from  your  situ- 
ation and  to  carry  off:  and  you,  O  most  holy 
mother  Cybele,  whom  he  left  among  the  Enguini, 
in  your  most  august  and  venerated  temple,  plun- 
dered to  such  an  extent  that  only  the  name  of 
Africanus  and  some  traces  of  your  worship,  thus 
violated,  remain,  but  the  monuments  of  victory 
and  all  the  ornaments  of  the  temple  are  no  longer 
visible  :  you  also,  O  you  judges  and  witnesses  of 
all  forensic  matters,  and  of  the  most  important 
tribunals,  and  of  the  laws,  and  of  the  courts  of 
justice :  you,  placed  in  the  most  frequented  place 
belonging  to  the  Roman  people,  O  Castor  and 
Pollux,  from  whose  temple  that  man,  in  a  most 
wicked  manner,  procured  gain  to  himself  and 
enormous  booty  :  and  O  all  ye  gods,  who,  borne 
on  sacred  cars,  visit  the  solemn  assemblies  of  our 
games,  whose  road  that  fellow  contrived  should 
be  adapted,  not  to  the  dignity  of  your  religious 
ceremonies,  but  to  his  own  profit :  and  you,  O 
Ceres  and  Libera,  whose  sacred  worship,  as  the 
opinions  and  religious  belief  of  all  men  agree,  is 
contained  in  the  most  important  and  most  ab- 
struse mysteries  ;  you,  by  whom  the  principles  of 
life  and  food,   the  examples  of  laws,   customs, 


172  Cicero 

humanity,  and  refinement  are  said  to  have  been 
given  and  distributed  to  nations  and  to  cities  ;  you, 
whose  sacred  rites  the  Roman  people  has  received 
from  the  Greeks  and  adopted,  and  now  preserves 
with  such  religious  awe  both  publicly  and  pri- 
vately that  they  seem  not  to  have  been  intro- 
duced from  other  nations,  but  rather  to  have  been 
transmitted  from  hence  to  other  nations,  but  which 
have  been  polluted  and  violated  by  that  man  alone 
in  such  a  manner  that  he  had  one  image  of  Ceres 
(which  it  was  impious  for  a  man  not  only  to  touch, 
but  even  to  look  upon)  pulled  down  from  its  place 
in  the  temple  at  Catina,  and  taken  away ;  and 
another  image  of  whom  he  carried  away  from  its 
proper  seat  and  home  at  Enna,  which  was  a  work 
of  such  beauty  that  men  when  they  saw  it 
thought  either  that  they  saw  Ceres  herself,  or  an 
image  of  Ceres  not  wrought  by  human  hand,  but 
one  that  had  fallen  from  Heaven  :  to  you,  again 
and  again,  I  implore  and  appeal,  most  holy  god- 
desses, who  dwell  around  those  lakes  and  groves 
of  Enna,  and  who  preside  over  all  Sicily,  which  is 
intrusted  to  me  to  be  defended  ;  you  whose  in- 
vention and  gift  of  corn,  which  you  have  dis- 
tributed over  the  whole  earth,  inspires  all  nations 
and  all  races  of  men  with  reverence  for  your  divine 
power :  and  I  implore  and  entreat  all  the  other 
gods  and  all  the  goddesses,  against  whose  temples 
and  religious  worship  that  man,  inspired  by  some 


On  the  Punishments  173 

wicked  frenzy  and  audacity,  has  always  waged  a 
sacrilegious  and  impious  war,  that  if,  in  dealing 
with  this  criminal  and  this  cause,  my  counsels 
have  always  tended  to  the  safety  of  the  allies,  the 
dignity  of  the  Roman  people,  and  the  maintenance 
of  my  own  character  for  good  faith  ;  if  all  my  cares 
and  vigilance  and  thoughts  have  been  directed  to 
nothing  but  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  and  the 
establishment  of  truth, — I  implore  them,  O  judges, 
so  to  influence  you  that  the  thoughts  which  were 
mine  when  I  undertook  this  cause,  the  good  faith 
which  has  been  mine  in  pleading  it,  may  be  yours 
also  in  deciding  it.  Lastly,  that  if  all  the  actions 
of  Caius  Verres  are  unexampled  and  unheard-of 
instances  of  wickedness,  of  audacity,  of  perfidy, 
of  lust,  of  avarice,  and  of  cruelty,  then  an  end 
worthy  of  such  a  life  and  such  actions  may,  by 
your  sentence,  overtake  him  ;  and  that  the  Repub- 
lic, and  my  own  duty  thereto,  may  be  content 
with  my  undertaking  this  one  prosecution,  and 
that  1  may  be  allowed  for  the  future  to  defend  the 
good,  instead  of  being  compelled  to  prosecute  the 
infamous. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGAINST  CATILINE 


THE   FIRST  ORATION 


Cicero. 


L.  Sergius  Catiline,  a  man  of  noble  birth,  of  ferocious  bravery,  and  the  vilest 
character,  was  Praetor  in  68  b.c,  and  Governor  of  Africa  in  67  B.C.  In  65  b.c, 
he  sought  election  as  consul,  but  he  was  disqualified  by  charges  pending  against 
him  for  maladministration  in  Africa.  His  profligate  life  had  burdened  him  with 
debts.  His  creditors,  seeing  the  defeat  of  his  political  aspirations,  pressed  for  pay- 
ment. He  was  ruined  and  disgraced.  He  planned  a  political  revolution  by  which 
he  would  become  ruler  of  Rome.  The  conspiracy,  in  which  he  was  joined  by 
other  dissolute  and  impoverished  nobles,  became  widespread.  The  plot  was 
betrayed  to  Cicero,  who  was  consul  in  6^  b.c,  and  he  took  measures  to  foil  it. 
On  November  6,  63  b.c,  Catiline  assembled  the  conspirators  and  for  the  first 
time  completely  revealed  his  plans.  These  included  the  murder  of  Cicero  and  all 
other  opponents  if  the  conspirators,  and  the  sack  and  burning  of  Rome.  De- 
spite some  objection,  the  plan  was  approved,  and  messengers  were  despatched  to 
distant  members  of  the  conspiracy  to  order  immediate  action.  Cicero  placed 
the  city  in  a  state  of  defence,  sent  against  the  forces  of  the  conspirators  in  Etruria 
and  Apulia  two  proconsuls  who  had  opportunely  arrived  with  troops,  dispersed 
the  Capuan  gladiators,  whom  Catiline  had  planned  to  use  against  the  Romans, 
and  sent  forces  against  the  rebels  in  Picenum.  On  November  7th,  the  Senate 
was  convened  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  on  the  Palatine.  Catiline  appeared 
in  his  place,  for  despite  his  treacherous  nature  he  was  rashly  brave.  Cicero  rose, 
and  overwhelmed  the  guilty  man  with  his  famous  speech  known  as  the  First 
Oration  against  Catiline. 

HOW  long,  O  Catiline,  will  you  abuse  our 
patience  ?  How  long  is  that  madness  of 
yours  still  to  mock  us  ?  When  is  there  to  be  an 
end  of  that  unbridled  audacity  of  yours,  swaggering 

174 


Against  Catiline  175 

about  as  it  does  now  ?  Do  not  the  guards 
placed  by  night  on  the  Palatine  Hill :  do  not  the 
watches  posted  throughout  the  city  :  does  not  the 
alarm  of  the  people,  and  the  union  of  all  good  men: 
does  not  the  precaution  taken  of  assembling  the 
Senate  in  this  most  defensible  place  :  do  not  the 
looks  and  countenances  of  this  venerable  body  here 
present,  have  any  effect  upon  you  ?  Do  you  not 
feel  that  your  plans  are  detected  ?  Do  you  not 
see  that  your  conspiracy  is  already  arrested  and 
rendered  powerless  by  the  knowledge  which  every 
one  here  possesses  of  it  ?  What  is  there  that  you 
did  last  night,  what  the  night  before :  where  is  it 
that  you  were  :  who  was  there  that  you  summoned 
to  meet  you  :  what  design  was  there  which  was 
adopted  by  you,  with  which  you  think  that  any 
one  of  us  is  unacquainted  ? 

Shame  on  the  age  and  on  its  principles !  The 
Senate  is  aware  of  these  things ;  the  consul  sees 
them  ;  and  yet  this  man  lives.  Lives  !  ay,  he  comes 
even  into  the  Senate.  He  takes  a  part  in  the  public 
deliberations ;  he  is  watching  and  marking  down 
and  checking  off  for  slaughter  every  man  among 
us.  And  we,  gallant  men  that  we  are,  think  that 
we  are  doing  our  duty  to  the  Republic  if  we  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  his  frenzied  attacks. 

You  ought,  O  Catiline,  long  ago  to  have  been 
led  to  execution  by  command  of  the  consul.  That 
destruction  which  you  have  been  long  plotting 


1 76  Cicero 

against  us  ought  already  to  have  fallen  on  your  own 
head. 

What !  Did  not  that  most  illustrious  man,  Pub- 
lius  Scipio,  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  in  his  capacity 
of  a  private  citizen,  put  to  death  Tiberius  Gracchus, 
though  but  slightly  undermining  the  Constitution  ? 
And  shall  we,  who  are  the  consuls,  tolerate  Cati- 
line, openly  desirous  to  destroy  the  whole  world 
with  fire  and  slaughter?  For  I  pass  over  older 
instances,  such  as  how  Caius  Servilius  Ahala  with 
his  own  hand  slew  Spurius  Melius  when  plotting 
a  revolution  in  the  State.  There  was — there  was 
once  such  virtue  in  this  Republic  that  brave  men 
would  repress  mischievous  citizens  with  severer 
chastisement  than  the  most  bitter  enemy.  For  we 
have  a  resolution  of  the  Senate,  a  formidable  and 
authoritative  decree  against  you,  O  Catiline ;  the 
wisdom  of  the  Republic  is  not  at  fault,  nor  the 
dignity  of  this  senatorial  body.  We,  we  alone — I 
say  it  openly, — we,  the  consuls,  are  wanting  in  our 
duty. 

The  Senate  once  passed  a  decree  that  Lucius 
Opimius,  the  consul,  should  take  care  that  the 
Republic  suffered  no  injury.  Not  one  night 
elapsed.  There  was  put  to  death,  on  some  mere 
suspicion  of  disaffection,  Caius  Gracchus,  a  man 
whose  family  had  borne  the  most  unblemished 
reputation  for  many  generations.  There  were  slain 
Marcus  Fulvius,  a  man  of  consular  rank,  and  all 


Against  Catiline  i77 

his  children.  By  a  like  decree  of  the  Senate  the 
safety  of  the  Republic  was  intrusted  to  Caius 
Marius  and  Lucius  Valerius,  the  consuls.  Did  not 
the  vengeance  of  the  Republic,  did  not  execution 
overtake  Lucius  Saturninus,  a  tribune  of  the  people, 
and  Caius  Servilius,  the  pr^tor,  without  the  delay 
of  one  single  day  ?  But  we,  for  these  twenty 
days,  have  been  allowing  the  edge  of  the  Senate's 
authority  to  grow  blunt,  as  it  were.  For  we  are 
in  possession  of  a  similar  decree  of  the  Senate,  but 
we  keep  it  locked  up  in  its  parchment — buried,  1 
may  say,  in  the  sheath  ;  and  according  to  this 
decree  you  ought,  O  Catiline,  to  be  put  to  death 
this  instant.  You  live — and  you  live,  not  to  lay 
aside,  but  to  persist  in  your  audacity. 

I  wish,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  to  be  merciful  ;  I 
wish  not  to  appear  negligent  amid  such  danger  to 
the  State  ;  but  I  do  now  accuse  myself  of  remiss- 
ness and  culpable  inactivity.  A  camp  is  pitched 
in  Italy,  at  the  entrance  of  Etruria,  hostile  to  the 
Republic  ;  the  number  of  the  enemy  increases 
every  day  ;  and  yet  the  general  of  that  camp,  the 
leader  of  those  enemies,  we  see  within  the  walls 
— ay,  and  even  in  the  Senate — planning  every  day 
some  internal  injury  to  the  Republic.  If,  O  Cat- 
iline, 1  should  now  order  you  to  be  arrested,  to  be 
put  to  death,  I  should,  I  suppose,  have  to  fear  lest 
all  good  men  should  say  that  I  had  acted  tardily, 
rather  than  that  any  one  should  affirm  that  I  acted 


VOL.  H.--12. 


1 72,  Cicero 

cruelly.  But  yet  this,  which  ought  to  have  been 
done  long  since,  1  have  good  reason  for  not  doing 
as  yet ;  1  will  put  you  to  death,  then,  when  there 
shall  be  not  one  person  possible  to  be  found  so 
wicked,  so  abandoned,  so  like  yourself,  as  not  to 
admit  that  it  has  been  rightly  done.  As  long  as 
one  person  exists  who  can  dare  to  defend  you,  you 
shall  live  ;  but  you  shall  live  as  you  do  now,  sur- 
rounded by  my  many  and  trusty  guards,  so  that 
you  shall  not  be  able  to  stir  one  finger  against  the 
Republic  :  many  eyes  and  ears  shall  still  observe 
and  watch  you,  as  they  have  hitherto  done,  though 
you  shall  not  perceive  them. 

For  what  is  there,  O  Catiline,  that  you  can  still 
expect,  if  night  is  not  able  to  veil  your  nefarious 
meetings  in  darkness,  and  if  private  houses  can 
not  conceal  the  voice  of  your  conspiracy  within 
their  walls — if  everything  is  seen  and  displayed  ? 
Change  that  purpose  of  yours :  trust  me  :  forget 
the  slaughter  and  conflagration  you  are  meditating. 
You  are  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  ;  all  your  plans  are 
clearer  to  us  than  the  day  :  let  me  remind  you  of 
them.  Do  you  recollect  that  on  the  21st  of  Octo- 
ber 1  said  in  the  Senate,  that  on  a  certain  day, 
which  was  to  be  the  27th  of  October,  C.  Manlius, 
the  satellite  and  servant  of  your  audacity,  would 
be  in  arms  ?  Was  1  mistaken,  Catiline,  not  only 
in  so  important,  so  atrocious,  so  incredible  a  fact, 
but,  what  is  much  more  remarkable,  in  the  very 


A«^ainst  Catiline  179 


■■& 


day  ?  I  said  also  in  the  Senate  that  you  had  fixed 
the  massacre  of  the  nobles  for  the  28th  of  October, 
when  many  chief  men  of  the  Senate  had  left 
Rome,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  saving  them- 
selves as  of  checking  your  designs.  Can  you 
deny  that  on  that  very  day  you  were  so  hemmed 
in  by  my  guards  and  my  vigilance,  that  you  were 
unable  to  stir  one  finger  against  the  Republic  ; 
when  you  said  that  you  would  be  content  with 
the  flight  of  the  rest,  and  the  slaughter  of  us  who 
remained  ?  What !  When  you  made  sure  that 
you  would  be  able  to  seize  Pr^eneste  on  the  ist  of 
November  by  a  nocturnal  attack,  did  you  not  find 
that  that  colony  was  fortified  by  my  order,  by  my 
garrison,  by  my  watchfulness  and  care  ?  You  do 
nothing,  you  plan  nothing,  think  of  nothing,  which 
I  not  only  do  not  hear,  but  which  I  do  not  see  and 
every  particular  of  which  I  do  not  know. 

Listen  while  1  speak  of  the  night  before.  You 
shall  now  see  that  I  watch  far  more  keenly  for  the 
safety  than  you  do  for  the  destruction  of  the  Re- 
public. 1  say  that  you  came  the  night  before  (1 
will  say  nothing  obscurely)  into  the  Scythe-deal- 
ers' street,  to  the  house  of  Marcus  Lecca  ;  that 
many  of  your  accomplices  in  the  same  insanity  and 
wickedness  came  there  also.  Do  you  dare  to 
deny  it  ?  Why  are  you  so  silent  ?  I  will  prove  it 
if  you  do  deny  it ;  for  I  see  here  in  the  Senate 
some  men  who  were  there  with  you. 


I  So  Cicero 

O  ye  immortal  gods,  where  on  earth  are  we  ?  in 
what  city  are  we  living?  what  Constitution  is 
ours  ?  There  are  here — here  in  our  body,  O  Con- 
script Fathers,  in  this  the  most  holy  and  dignified 
assembly  of  the  whole  world,  men  who  meditate 
my  death,  and  the  death  of  all  of  us,  and  the  de- 
struction of  this  city,  and  of  the  whole  world.  I, 
the  consul,  see  them  ;  1  ask  them  their  opinion 
about  the  Republic,  and  I  do  not  yet  attack,  even 
by  words,  those  who  ought  to  be  put  to  death  by 
the  sword.  You  were,  then,  O  Catiline,  at  Lecca's 
that  night ;  you  divided  Italy  into  sections ;  you 
settled  where  every  one  was  to  go ;  you  fixed 
whom  you  were  to  leave  at  Rome,  whom  you 
were  to  take  with  you ;  you  portioned  out  the 
divisions  of  the  city  for  conflagration  ;  you  under- 
took that  you  yourself  would  at  once  leave  the 
city,  and  said  that  there  was  then  only  this  to  de- 
lay you, — that  I  was  still  alive.  Two  Roman 
knights  were  found  to  deliver  you  from  this  anx- 
iety, and  to  promise  that  very  night,  before  day- 
break, to  slay  me  in  my  bed.  All  this  I  knew 
almost  before  your  meeting  had  broken  up.  1 
strengthened  and  fortified  my  house  with  a  strong- 
er guard  ;  I  refused  admittance,  when  they  came, 
to  those  whom  you  sent  in  the  morning  to  salute 
me,  and  of  whom  1  had  foretold  to  many  eminent 
men  that  they  would  come  to  me  at  that  time. 

As,  then,  this  is  the  case,  O  Catiline,  continue  as 


Against  Catiline  i8i 

you  have  begun.  Leave  the  city  at  last :  the  gates 
are  open  ;  depart.  That  Manlian  camp  of  yours 
has  been  waiting  too  long  for  you  as  its  general. 
And  lead  forth  with  you  all  your  friends,  or  at 
least  as  many  as  you  can  ;  purge  the  city  of  your 
presence  ;  you  will  deliver  me  from  a  great  fear 
when  there  is  a  wall  between  me  and  you.  Among 
us  you  can  dwell  no  longer — 1  will  not  bear  it,  I 
will  not  permit  it,  1  will  not  tolerate  it.  Great 
thanks  are  due  to  the  immortal  gods,  and  to  this 
very  Jupiter  Stator,  in  whose  temple  we  are,  the 
most  ancient  protector  of  this  city,  that  we  have 
already  so  often  escaped  so  foul,  so  horrible,  and 
so  deadly  an  enemy  to  the  Republic.  But  the 
safety  of  the  Commonwealth  must  not  be  too  often 
allowed  to  be  risked  on  one  man.  As  long  as 
you,  O  Catiline,  plotted  against  me  while  I  was 
the  consul  elect,  1  defended  myself  not  with  a 
public  guard,  but  by  my  own  private  diligence. 
When,  in  the  next  consular  comitia,  you  wished 
to  slay  me  when  I  was  actually  consul,  and  your 
competitors  also,  in  the  Campus  Martins,  I  checked 
your  nefarious  attempt  by  the  assistance  and  re- 
sources of  my  friends,  without  publicly  exciting 
any  disturbance.  In  short,  as  often  as  you  at- 
tacked me,  1  by  myself  opposed  you,  and  that, 
too,  though  I  saw  that  my  ruin  was  connected 
with  great  disaster  to  the  Republic.  But  now 
you  are  openly  attacking  the  entire  Republic. 


1 82  Cicero 

You  are  summoning  to  destruction  and  devasta- 
tion the  temples  of  the  immortal  gods,  the  houses 
of  the  city,  the  lives  of  all  citizens — in  short,  all 
Italy.  Wherefore,  since  I  do  not  yet  venture  to  do 
that  which  is  the  best  thing,  and  which  belongs  to 
my  office  and  to  the  discipline  of  our  ancestors, 
I  will  do  that  which  is  more  merciful,  if  we  regard 
its  rigor,  and  more  expedient  for  the  State.  For  if 
I  order  you  to  be  put  to  death,  the  rest  of  the  con- 
spirators will  still  remain  in  the  Republic ;  if,  as 
I  have  long  been  exhorting  you,  you  depart,  your 
companions,  these  worthless  dregs  of  the  Repub- 
lic, will  be  drawn  off  from  the  city  too.  What  is 
the  matter,  Catiline  ?  Do  you  hesitate  to  do  that 
when  I  order  you  which  you  were  already  doing 
of  your  own  accord  ?  The  consul  orders  an  enemy 
to  depart  from  the  city.  Do  you  ask  me  are  you 
to  go  into  banishment  ?  I  do  not  order  it ;  but,  if 
you  consult  me,  I  advise  it. 

For  what  is  there,  O  Catiline,  that  can  now 
afford  you  any  pleasure  in  this  city  ?  for  there  is  no 
one  in  it,  except  that  band  of  profligate  conspira- 
tors of  yours,  who  does  not  fear  you — no  one  who 
does  not  hate  you.  What  brand  of  domestic  base- 
ness is  not  stamped  upon  your  life  ?  What  dis- 
graceful circumstance  is  wanting  to  your  infamy  in 
your  private  affairs  ?  From  what  licentiousness 
have  your  eyes,  from  what  atrocity  have  your 
hands,  from  what  iniquity  has  your  whole  body 


Ao^ainst  Catiline  183 


"fc) 


ever  abstained  ?  Is  there  one  youth,  when  you 
have  once  entangled  him  in  the  temptations  of 
your  corruption,  to  whom  you  have  not  held  out 
a  sword  for  audacious  crime,  or  a  torch  for  licen- 
tious wickedness  ? 

What !  When  lately,  by  the  death  of  your  former 
wife,  you  had  made  your  house  empty  and  ready 
for  a  new  bridal,  did  you  not  even  add  another 
incredible  wickedness  to  this  wickedness  ?  But  1 
pass  that  over,  and  willingly  allow  it  to  be  buried 
in  silence,  that  so  horrible  a  crime  may  not  be 
known  to  have  existed  in  this  city  without  having 
been  chastised.  1  pass  over  the  ruin  of  your  for- 
tune, which  you  know  is  hanging  over  you  against 
the  Ides  of  the  very  next  month  ;  I  come  to  those 
things  which  relate  not  to  the  infamy  of  your  pri- 
vate vices,  not  to  your  domestic  difficulties  and 
baseness,  but  to  the  welfare  of  the  Republic  and  to 
the  lives  and  safety  of  us  all. 

Can  the  light  of  this  life,  O  Catiline,  can  the 
breath  of  this  atmosphere  be  pleasant  to  you, 
when  you  know  that  there  is  not  one  man  of 
those  here  present  who  is  ignorant  that  you,  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year,  when  Lepidus  and  Tullus 
were  consuls,  stood  armed  in  the  assembly ;  that 
you  had  prepared  your  hand  for  the  slaughter  of 
the  consuls  and  chief  men  of  the  State,  and  that 
no  reason  or  fear  of  yours  hindered  your  crime  and 
madness,  but  the  fortune  of  the  Republic  ?    And  I 


1 84  Cicero 

say  no  more  of  these  things,  for  they  are  not  un- 
known to  every  one.  How  often  have  you  en- 
deavored to  slay  me,  both  as  consul  elect  and  as 
actual  consul  ?  how  many  shots  of  yours,  so  aimed 
that  they  seemed  impossible  to  be  escaped,  have  I 
avoided  by  some  slight  stooping  aside,  and  some 
dodging,  as  it  were,  of  my  body  ?  You  attempt 
nothing,  you  execute  nothing,  you  devise  nothing 
that  can  be  kept  hid  from  me  at  the  proper  time  ; 
and  yet  you  do  not  cease  to  attempt  and  to  con- 
trive. How  often  already  has  that  dagger  of  yours 
been  wrested  from  your  hands  ?  how  often  has  it 
slipped  through  them  by  some  chance,  and  dropped 
down  ?  and  you  can  not  any  longer  do  without  it; 
and  I  know  not  to  what  sacred  mysteries  it  is  con- 
secrated and  devoted  by  you  that  you  think  it 
necessary  to  plunge  it  in  the  body  of  the  consul. 

But,  now,  what  is  that  life  of  yours  that  you  are 
leading  ?  For  I  will  speak  to  you  not  so  as  to  seem 
influenced  by  the  hatred  I  ought  to  feel,  but  by 
pity,  nothing  of  which  is  due  to  you.  You  came  a 
little  while  ago  into  the  Senate  :  in  so  numerous  an 
assembly,  who  of  so  many  friends  and  connections 
of  yours  saluted  you  ?  If  this  never  happened  to 
any  one  else  in  the  memory  of  man,  are  you  wait- 
ing for  insults  by  word  of  mouth,  when  you  are 
overwhelmed  by  the  most  irresistible  condemna- 
tion of  silence  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  at  your  arrival 
all  those  seats  were  vacated  ?  that  all  the  men  of 


Against  Catiline  185 

consular  rank,  who  had  often  been  marked  out  by 
you  for  slaughter,  the  very  moment  you  sat  down 
left  that  part  of  the  benches  bare  and  vacant  ?  With 
what  feelings  do  you  think  you  ought  to  bear  this  ? 
On  my  honor,  if  my  slaves  feared  me  as  all  your 
fellow-citizens  fear  you,  1  should  think  I  must  leave 
my  house.  Do  you  not  think  you  should  leave  the 
city  ?  If  1  saw  that  1  was  even  undeservedly  so 
suspected  and  hated  by  my  fellow-citizens,  I  would 
rather  flee  from  their  sight  than  be  gazed  at  by  the 
hostile  eyes  of  every  one.  And  do  you,  who,  from 
the  consciousness  of  your  wickedness,  know  that 
the  hatred  of  all  men  is  just  and  has  been  long  due 
to  you,  hesitate  to  avoid  the  sight  and  presence  of 
those  men  whose  minds  and  senses  you  offend  ? 
If  your  parents  feared  and  hated  you,  and  if  you 
could  by  no  means  pacify  them,  you  would,  I  think, 
depart  somewhere  out  of  their  sight.  Now,  your 
country,  which  is  the  common  parent  of  all  of  us, 
hates  and  fears  you,  and  has  no  other  opinion  of 
you  than  that  you  are  meditating  parricide  in  her 
case  ;  and  will  you  feel  neither  awe  of  her  authority, 
deference  for  her  judgment,  nor  fear  of  her  power? 
And  she,  O  Catiline,  thus  pleads  with  you,  and 
after  a  manner  silently  speaks  to  you  :  There  has 
now  for  many  years  been  no  crime  committed  but 
by  you  ;  no  atrocity  has  taken  place  without  you  ; 
you  alone,  unpunished  and  unquestioned,  have 
murdered  the  citizens,  have  harassed  and  plundered 


1 86  Cicero 

the  allies  ;  you  alone  have  had  power  not  only  to 
neglect  all  laws  and  investigations,  but  to  over- 
throw and  break  through  them.  Your  former 
actions,  though  they  ought  not  to  have  been  borne, 
1  did  yet  bear  as  well  as  1  could  ;  but  now  that  I 
should  be  wholly  occupied  with  fear  of  you  alone, 
that  at  every  sound  I  should  dread  Catiline,  that  no 
design  should  seem  possible  to  be  entertained 
against  me  which  does  not  proceed  from  your 
wickedness, — this  is  no  longer  endurable.  De- 
part, then,  and  deliver  me  from  this  fear ;  that,  if  it 
be  a  just  one,  I  may  not  be  destroyed  ;  if  an  imag- 
inary one,  that  at  least  1  may  finally  cease  to  fear. 
If,  as  1  have  said,  your  country  were  thus  to  ad- 
dress you,  ought  she  not  to  obtain  her  request, 
even  if  she  were  not  able  to  enforce  it  ?  What 
shall  1  say  of  your  having  given  yourself  into  cus- 
tody ?  what  of  your  having  said,  for  the  sake  of 
avoiding  suspicion,  that  you  were  willing  to  dwell 
in  the  house  of  Marcus  Lepidus  ?  And  when  you 
were  not  received  by  him,  you  dared  even  to  come 
to  me,  and  begged  me  to  keep  you  in  my  house  ; 
and  when  you  had  received  answer  from  me  that 
I  could  not  possibly  be  safe  in  the  same  house  with 
you,  when  I  considered  myself  in  great  danger  as 
long  as  we  were  in  the  same  city,  you  came  to 
Quintus  Metellus,  the  praetor,  and  being  rejected 
by  him,  you  passed  on  to  your  associate,  that 
most    excellent    man,    Marcus    Marcellus,    who 


Against  Catiline  187 

would  be,  I  suppose  you  thought,  most  diligent 
in  guarding  you,  most  sagacious  in  suspecting  you, 
and  most  bold  in  punishing  you  ;  but  how  far  can 
we  think  that  man  ought  to  be  from  bonds  and 
imprisonment  who  has  already  judged  himself 
deserving  of  being  given  into  custody  ? 

Since,  then,  this  is  the  case,  do  you  hesitate,  O 
Catiline,  if  you  can  not  remain  here  with  tranquil- 
lity, to  depart  to  some  distant  land,  and  to  trust  your 
life,  saved  from  just  and  deserved  punishment,  to 
flight  and  solitude  ?  Make  a  motion,  say  you  to 
the  Senate  (for  that  is  what  you  demand),  and  if  this 
body  votes  that  you  ought  to  go  into  banishment, 
you  say  that  you  will  obey.  I  will  not  make  such 
a  motion,  it  is  contrary  to  my  principles,  and  yet  I 
will  let  you  see  what  these  men  think  of  you.  Be- 
gone from  the  city,  O  Catiline,  deliver  the  Repub- 
lic from  fear ;  depart  into  banishment,  if  that  is  the 
word  you  are  waiting  for.  What  now,  O  Catiline? 
Do  you  not  perceive,  do  you  not  see  the  silence  of 
these  men  ?  They  permit  it,  they  say  nothing ; 
why  wait  you  for  the  authority  of  their  words 
when  you  see  their  wishes  in  their  silence  ? 

But  had  I  said  the  same  to  this  excellent  young 
man,  Publius  Sextius,  or  to  that  brave  man,  Mar- 
cus Marcellus,  before  this  time  the  Senate  would 
deservedly  have  laid  violent  hands  on  me,  consul 
though  I  be,  in  this  very  temple.  But  as  to  you, 
Catiline,  while  they  are  quiet  they  approve,  while 


1 88  Cicero 

they  permit  me  to  speak  they  vote,  while  they  are 
silent  they  are  loud  and  eloquent.  And  not  only 
they,  whose  authority  forsooth  is  dear  to  you, 
though  their  lives  are  unimportant,  but  the  Roman 
knights  also,  those  most  honorable  and  excellent 
men,  and  the  other  virtuous  citizens  who  are  now 
surrounding  the  Senate,  whose  numbers  you  may 
see,  whose  desires  you  may  know,  and  whose 
voices  you  a  few  minutes  ago  could  hear — ay, 
whose  very  hands  and  weapons  I  have  for  some 
time  been  scarcely  able  to  keep  off  from  you  ;  but 
those,  too,  I  will  easily  bring  to  attend  you  to  the 
gates  if  you  leave  these  places  you  have  been  long 
desiring  to  lay  waste. 

And  yet,  why  am  I  speaking  ?  That  any  thing 
may  change  your  purpose  ?  that  you  may  ever 
amend  your  life  ?  that  you  may  meditate  flight  or 
think  of  voluntary  banishment  ?  I  wish  the  gods 
may  give  you  such  a  mind ;  though  I  see,  if, 
alarmed  at  my  words,  you  bring  your  mind  to  go 
into  banishment,  what  a  storm  of  unpopularity 
hangs  over  me;  if  not  at  present,  while  the  memory 
of  your  wickedness  is  fresh,  at  all  events  hereafter. 
But  it  is  worth  while  to  incur  that,  as  long  as  that 
is  but  a  private  misfortune  of  my  own  and  is  un- 
connected with  the  dangers  of  the  Republic.  But 
we  cannot  expect  that  you  should  be  concerned  at 
your  own  vices,  that  you  should  fear  the  penal- 
ties of  the  laws,  or  that  you  should  yield  to  the 


Against  Catiline  189 

necessities  of  the  Republic,  for  you  are  not,  O 
Catiline,  one  whom  either  shame  can  recall  from 
infamy,  or  fear  from  danger,  or  reason  from  madness. 

Wherefore,  as  I  have  said  before,  go  forth,  and 
if  you  wish  to  make  me,  your  enemy  as  you  call 
me,  unpopular,  go  straight  into  banishment.  I 
shall  scarcely  be  able  to  endure  all  that  will  be  said 
if  you  do  so  ;  I  shall  scarcely  be  able  to  support 
my  load  of  unpopularity  if  you  do  go  into  banish- 
ment at  the  command  of  the  consul  ;  but  if  you 
wish  to  serve  my  credit  and  reputation,  go  forth 
with  your  ill-omened  band  of  profligates  ;  betake 
yourself  to  Manlius,  rouse  up  the  abandoned  citi- 
zens, separate  yourself  from  the  good  ones,  wage 
war  against  your  country,  exult  in  your  impious 
banditti,  so  that  you  may  not  seem  to  have  been 
driven  out  by  me  and  gone  to  strangers,  but  to 
have  gone  invited  to  your  own  friends. 

Though  why  should  I  invite  you,  by  whom  1 
know  men  have  been  already  sent  to  wait  in  arms 
for  you  at  the  Forum  Aurelium  ;  who  I  know  has 
fixed  and  agreed  with  Manlius  upon  a  settled  day  ; 
by  whom  1  know  that  that  silver  eagle,  which  I 
trust  will  be  ruinous  and  fatal  to  you  and  to  all 
your  friends,  and  to  which  there  was  set  up  in 
your  house  a  shrine  as  it  were  of  your  crimes,  has 
already  been  sent  forward.  Need  I  fear  that  you 
can  long  do  without  that  which  you  used  to  wor- 
ship when  going  out  to  murder,  and  from  whose 


190  Cicero 

altars  you  have  often  transferred  your  impious  hand 
to  the  slaughter  of  citizens  ? 

You  will  go  at  last  whither  your  unbridled  and 
mad  desire  has  been  long  hurrying  you.  And  this 
causes  you  no  grief,  but  an  incredible  pleasure. 
Nature  has  formed  you,  desire  has  trained  you, 
fortune  has  preserved  you  for  this  insanity.  Not 
only  did  you  never  desire  quiet,  but  you  never 
even  desired  any  war  but  a  criminal  one ;  you 
have  collected  a  band  of  profligates  and  worthless 
men,  abandoned  not  only  by  all  fortune  but  even 
by  hope. 

Then  what  happiness  will  you  enjoy  !  with  what 
delight  will  you  exult !  in  what  pleasure  will  you 
revel !  when  in  so  numerous  a  body  of  friends, 
you  neither  hear  nor  see  one  good  man.  All  the 
toils  you  have  gone  through  have  always  pointed 
to  this  sort  of  life :  your  lying  on  the  ground,  not 
merely  to  lie  in  wait  to  gratify  your  unclean  de- 
sires, but  even  to  accomplish  crimes ;  your  vigi- 
lance, not  only  when  plotting  against  the  sleep 
of  husbands,  but  also  against  the  goods  of  your 
murdered  victims,  have  all  been  preparations  for 
this.  Now  you  have  an  opportunity  of  display- 
ing your  splendid  endurance  of  hunger,  of  cold, 
of  want  of  every  thing ;  by  which  in  a  short  time 
you  will  find  yourself  worn  out.  All  this  I  ef- 
fected when  1  procured  your  rejection  from  the 
consulship,  that  you  should  be  reduced  to  make 


Against  Catiline  191 

attempts  on  your  country  as  an  exile,  instead 
of  being  able  to  distress  it  as  consul,  and  that  that 
which  had  been  wickedly  undertaken  by  you 
should  be  called  piracy  rather  than  war. 

Now  that  1  may  remove  and  avert,  O  Conscript 
Fathers,  any  in  the  least  reasonable  complaint  from 
myself,  listen,  I  beseech  you,  carefully  to  what 
1  say,  and  lay  it  up  in  your  inmost  hearts  and 
minds.  In  truth,  if  my  country,  which  is  far 
dearer  to  me  than  my  life — if  all  Italy — if  the 
whole  Republic  were  to  address  me,  ''Marcus 
Tullius,  what  are  you  doing?  Will  you  permit 
that  man  to  depart  whom  you  have  ascertained  to 
be  an  enemy?  whom  you  see  ready  to  become 
the  general  of  the  war  ?  whom  you  know  to  be 
expected  in  the  camp  of  the  enemy  as  their  chief, 
the  author  of  all  this  wickedness,  the  head  of  the 
conspiracy,  the  instigator  of  the  slaves  and  aban- 
doned citizens,  so  that  he  shall  seem  not  driven 
out  of  the  city  by  you,  but  let  loose  by  you 
against  the  city?  Will  you  not  order  him  to 
be  thrown  into  prison,  to  be  hurried  off  to  exe- 
cution, to  be  put  to  death  with  the  most  prompt 
severity  ?  What  hinders  you  ?  is  it  the  customs 
of  our  ancestors?  But  even  private  men  have 
often  in  this  Republic  slain  mischievous  citizens. 
Is  it  the  laws  which  have  been  passed  about  the 
punishment  of  Roman  citizens  ?  But  in  this  city 
those  who   have    rebelled  against  the   Republic 


192  Cicero 

have  never  had  the  rights  of  citizens.  Do  you 
fear  odium  with  posterity  ?  You  are  showing  fine 
gratitude  to  the  Roman  people  which  has  raised 
you,  a  man  known  only  by  your  own  actions, 
of  no  ancestral  renown,  through  all  the  degrees 
of  honor  at  so  early  an  age  to  the  very  highest 
office,  if  from  fear  of  unpopularity  or  of  any  dan- 
ger you  neglect  the  safety  of  your  fellow-citizens. 
But  if  you  have  a  fear  of  unpopularity,  is  that 
arising  from  the  imputation  of  vigor  and  boldness, 
or  that  arising  from  that  of  inactivity  and  inde- 
cision, more  to  be  feared  ?  When  Italy  is  laid 
waste  by  war,  when  cities  are  attacked  and 
houses  in  flames,  do  you  not  think  that  you  will 
be  then  consumed  by  a  perfect  conflagration  of 
hatred  ?  " 

To  this  holy  address  of  the  Republic,  and  to 
the  feelings  of  those  men  who  entertain  the  same 
opinion,  1  will  make  this  short  answer :  If,  O 
Conscript  Fathers,  I  thought  it  best  that  Catiline 
should  be  punished  with  death,  I  would  not  have 
given  the  space  of  one  hour  to  this  gladiator  to 
live  in.  If,  forsooth,  those  excellent  men  and  most 
illustrious  cities  not  only  did  not  pollute  themselves, 
but  even  glorified  themselves  by  the  blood  of 
Saturninus,  and  the  Gracchi,  and  Flaccus,  and 
many  others  of  old  time,  surely  I  had  no  cause  to 
fear  lest  for  slaying  this  parricidal  murderer  of  the 
citizens  any  unpopularity  should  accrue  to  me 


Against  Catiline  193 

with  posterity.  And  if  it  did  threaten  me  to  ever 
so  great  a  degree,  yet  I  have  always  been  of  the 
disposition  to  think  unpopularity  earned  by  virtue 
and  glory  not  real  unpopularity. 

Though  there  are  some  men  in  this  body  who 
either  do  not  see  what  threatens,  or  dissemble 
what  they  do  see  ;  who  have  fed  the  hope  of  Cati- 
line by  mild  sentiments,  and  have  strengthened  the 
rising  conspiracy  by  not  believing  it ;  influenced  by 
whose  authority  many,  and  they  not  wicked,  but 
only  ignorant,  if  I  punished  him  would  say  that  I 
had  acted  cruelly  and  tyrannically.  But  I  know 
that  if  he  arrives  at  the  camp  of  Manlius  to  which 
he  is  going,  there  will  be  no  one  so  stupid  as  not 
to  see  that  there  has  been  a  conspiracy,  no  one  so 
hardened  as  not  to  confess  it.  But  if  this  man 
alone  were  put  to  death,  1  know  that  this  disease 
of  the  Republic  would  be  only  checked  for  a  while, 
not  eradicated  forever.  But  if  he  banishes  himself, 
and  takes  with  him  all  his  friends,  and  collects  at 
one  point  all  the  ruined  men  from  every  quarter, 
then  not  only  will  be  extinguished  and  eradicated 
this  full-grown  plague  of  the  Republic,  but  also  the 
root  and  seed  of  all  future  evils. 

We  have  now  for  a  long  time,  O  Conscript 
Fathers,  lived  among  these  dangers  and  machina- 
tions of  conspiracy  ;  but  somehow  or  other,  the  ripe- 
ness of  all  wickedness,  and  of  this  long-standing 
madness  and  audacity,  has  come  to  a  head  at  the 

VOL.  II.  — 13. 


194  Cicero 

time  of  my  consulship.  But  if  this  man  alone  is  re- 
moved from  this  piratical  crew,  we  may  appear,  per- 
haps, for  a  short  time  relieved  from  fear  and  anx- 
iety, but  the  danger  will  settle  down  and  lie  hid  in 
the  veins  and  bowels  of  the  Republic.  As  it  often 
happens  that  men  afflicted  with  a  severe  disease, 
when  they  are  tortured  with  heat  and  fever,  if  they 
drink  cold  water  seem  at  first  to  be  relieved,  but 
afterward  suffer  more  and  more  severely,  so  this 
disease  which  is  in  the  Republic,  if  relieved  by  the 
punishment  of  this  man,  will  only  get  worse  and 
worse,  as  the  rest  will  be  still  alive. 

Wherefore,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  let  the  worth- 
less begone — let  them  separate  themselves  from  the 
good — let  them  collect  in  one  place — let  them,  as  I 
have  often  said  before,  be  separated  from  us  by  a 
wall  ;  let  them  cease  to  plot  against  the  consul  in 
his  own  house — to  surround  the  tribunal  of  the  city 
pr^tor — to  besiege  the  Senate-house  with  swords — 
to  prepare  brands  and  torches  to  burn  the  city  ;  let 
it,  in  short,  be  written  on  the  brow  of  every  citizen 
what  are  his  sentiments  about  the  Republic.  I  pro- 
mise you  this,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  that  there  shall 
be  so  much  diligence  in  us  the  consuls,  so  much 
authority  in  you,  so  much  virtue  in  the  Roman 
knights,  so  much  unanimity  in  all  good  men,  that 
you  shall  see  every  thing  made  plain  and  manifest 
by  the  departure  of  Catiline — every  thing  checked 
and  punished. 


Against  Catiline  195 

With  these  omens,  0  Catiline,  begone  to  your 
impious  and  nefarious  war,  to  the  great  safety  of 
the  Republic,  to  your  own  misfortune  and  injury, 
and  to  the  destruction  of  those  who  have  joined 
themselves  to  you  in  every  wickedness  and  atrocity. 
Then  do  you,  O  Jupiter,  who  were  consecrated  by 
Romulus  with  the  same  auspices  as  this  city,  whom 
we  rightly  call  the  stay  of  this  city  and  Empire,  re- 
pel this  man  and  his  companions  from  your  altars 
and  from  the  other  temples — from  the  houses  and 
walls  of  the  city — from  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  all 
the  citizens  ;  and  overwhelm  all  the  enemies  of  good 
men,  the  foes  of  the  Republic,  the  robbers  of  Italy, 
men  bound  together  by  a  treaty  and  infamous  alli- 
ance of  crimes,  dead  and  alive,  with  eternal  punish- 
ments. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC 


Cicero. 

Cesar's  death  gave  Antonius  the  opportunity  to  make  himself  the  virtual  dicta- 
tor of  Rome.  He  seized  the  property  left  by  Cassar,  he  amassed  by  fraud  and 
violence  great  riches.  Through  his  ill-gotten  vk'ealth  and  his  force  and  ability  he 
seemed  to  have  established  a  permanent  hold  upon  the  State.  Yet  opposition 
was  active,  and  the  Republican  party,  led  by  Cicero,  only  waited  the  opportu- 
nity to  regain  the  power  that  it  had  held  for  one  brief  moment  after  the  death  of 
Caesar.  Antonius  might  have  controlled  and  eventually  conquered  this  oppo- 
sition to  his  tyranny,  but  a  more  formidable  antagonist  arose.  Caius  Octavius, 
the  nephew  and  heir  of  Cassar,  though  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  was  destined  to 
grasp  the  power  at  which  Antonius  aimed.  Octavius  returned  to  Rome  from  the 
camp  at  Apollonia,  where  he  had  become  the  idol  of  the  soldiers,  and  claimed  the 
inheritance  of  Caesar.  He  instantly  obtained  a  following.  Caesar's  veterans 
flocked  to  his  support,  Cassar's  friends  were  ready  with  substantial  aid.  He  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavius,  and  demanded  his  inheritance  from 
Antonius.  Antonius  refused  to  disgorge  the  sums  stolen  from  Caesar.  Octavius 
addressed  the  Senate.  He  won  the  people  by  his  mild  and  conciliatory  conduct. 
He  made  especial  and  successful  efforts  to  win  Cicero.  He  visited  him,  and,  for 
the  time  at  least,  convinced  the  old  statesman  that  he  was  again  to  save  the  State 
by  combating  the  designs  of  Antonius,  by  whom  the  welfare  of  Rome  was 
placed  in  jeopardy.  The  following  months  were  crowded  with  political  intrigue 
and  indecisive  conflict. 

On  August  30th,  Cicero  came  to  Rome,  and  was  received  with  acclamations. 
Antonius  convened  the  Senate  upon  September  ist.  He  invited  Cicero  to  be  pres- 
ent. Cicero  did  not  attend.  Antonius,  enraged  at  this  act  of  defiance,  attacked 
the  absent  statesman  with  bitter  invective,  and  threatened  his  ruin.  The  next 
day,  Cicero,  roused  by  the  attacks  of  Antonius,  delivered  the  first  of  those  fourteen 
celebrated  speeches  that  have  received  the  name  of  Philippics.  Antonius  was  be- 
side himself  with  rage.  He  called  another  meeting  of  the  Senate  on  September 
19th,  and  notified  Cicero  to  be  present.  The  friends  of  Cicero  persuaded  him 
not  to  put  himself  in  the  power  of  his  enemy,  and  again  Antonius  poured  forth 
vituperation  on  his  absent  opponent. 

Cicero  did  not  immediately  publish  his  reply.     For  weeks  he  labored  upon  it 

196 


The  Second  Philippic  197 

in  the  interval  of  his  political  activities,  which  v^'ere  many  and  arduous.  At  last 
the  completed  occasion  came,  and  the  Second  Oration  against  Antonius,  called 
the  Second  Philippic,  was  issued.  This  is  considered  by  the  great  majority  of 
critics  to  be  the  masterpiece  of  the  greatest  orator  of  Rome.  It  is  a  lasting 
monument  to  his  fame. 

TO  what  destiny  of  mine,  O  Conscript  Fathers, 
shall  I  say  that  it  is  owing,  that  no  one  for 
the  last  twenty  years  has  been  an  enemy  to  the 
Republic  without  at  the  same  time  declaring  war 
against  me  ?  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  naming 
any  particular  person  ;  you  yourselves  recollect 
instances  in  proof  of  my  statement.  They  have  all 
hitherto  suffered  severer  punishments  than  I  could 
have  wished  for  them  ;  but  I  marvel  that  you,  O 
Antonius,  do  not  fear  the  end  of  those  men  whose 
conduct  you  are  imitating.  And  in  others  1  was 
less  surprised  at  this.  None  of  those  men  of  former 
times  was  a  voluntary  enemy  to  me  ;  all  of  them 
were  attacked  by  me  for  the  sake  of  the  Republic. 
But  you,  who  have  never  been  injured  by  me, 
not  even  by  a  word,  in  order  to  appear  more 
audacious  than  Catiline,  more  frantic  than  Clodius, 
have  of  your  own  accord  attacked  me  with  abuse, 
and  have  considered  that  your  alienation  from 
me  would  be  for  you  a  recommendation  to  im- 
pious citizens. 

What  am  I  to  think  ?  That  I  have  been  despised  ? 
I  see  nothing  either  in  my  life,  or  in  my  influence 
in  the  city,  or  in  my  exploits,  or  even  in  the  mod- 
erate abilities  with  which  I  am  endowed,  which 


198  Cicero 

Antonius  can  despise.  Did  he  think  that  it  was 
easiest  to  disparage  me  in  the  Senate  ?  a  body 
which  has  borne  its  testimony  in  favor  of  many 
illustrious  citizens  that  they  ably  governed  the  Re- 
public, but  in  favor  of  me  alone,  of  all  men,  that  1 
preserved  it.  Or  did  he  wish  to  contend  with  me 
in  a  rivalry  of  eloquence  ?  This,  indeed,  is  an  act 
of  generosity  !  for  what  could  be  a  more  fertile  or 
richer  subject  for  me,  than  to  have  to  speak  in  de- 
fence of  myself,  ar.d  against  Antonius  ?  This,  in 
fact,  is  the  truth.  He  thought  it  impossible  to 
prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  those  men  who  re- 
sembled himself  that  he  was  an  enemy  to  his 
country,  if  he  was  not  also  an  enemy  to  me.  And 
before  I  make  him  any  reply  on  the  other  topics  of 
his  speech,  I  will  say  a  few  words  respecting  the 
friendship  formerly  subsisting  between  us,  which  he 
has  accused  me  of  violating, — for  that  1  consider  a 
most  serious  charge. 

He  has  complained  that  I  pleaded  once  against 
his  interest.  Was  1  not  to  plead  against  one  with 
whom  1  was  quite  unconnected,  in  behalf  of  an  in- 
timate acquaintance,  of  a  dear  friend  ?  Was  I  not 
to  plead  against  interest  acquired  not  by  hopes  of 
virtue,  but  by  the  disgrace  of  youth  ?  Was  I  not 
to  plead  against  an  injustice  which  that  man  pro- 
cured to  be  done  by  the  obsequiousness  of  a  most 
iniquitous  interposer  of  his  veto,  not  by  any  law 
regulating  the  privileges   of  the  praetor  ?    But  I 


The  Second  Philippic  199 

imagine  that  this  was  mentioned  by  you,  in  order 
that  you  might  recommend  yourself  to  the  citizens, 
if  they  all  recollected  that  you  were  the  son-in-law 
of  a  freedman,  and  that  your  children  were  the 
grandsons  of  Quintus  Fadius,  a  freedman. 

But  you  had  entirely  devoted  yourself  to  my 
principles  (for  this  is  what  you  said);  you  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  coming  to  my  house.  In 
truth,  if  you  had  done  so,  you  would  more  have 
consulted  your  own  character  and  your  reputation 
for  chastity.  But  you  did  not  do  so,  nor,  if  you 
had  wished  it,  would  Caius  Curio  have  ever  suf- 
fered you  to  do  so.  You  have  said  that  you 
retired  in  my  favor  from  the  contest  for  the  augur- 
ship.  Oh  the  incredible  audacity !  oh  the  mon- 
strous impudence  of  such  an  assertion !  For,  at 
the  time  when  Cn^us  Pompeius  and  Quintus 
Hortensius  named  me  as  augur,  after  1  had  been 
desired  as  such  by  the  whole  college  (for  it  was 
not  lawful  for  me  to  be  put  in  nomination  by 
more  than  two  members  of  the  college),  you  were 
notoriously  insolvent,  nor  did  you  think  it  possi- 
ble to  secure  your  safety  by  any  other  means  than 
by  the  destruction  of  the  Republic.  But  was  it 
possible  for  you  to  stand  for  the  augurship  at  a 
time  when  Curio  was  not  in  Italy?  or  even  at 
the  time  when  you  were  elected,  could  you  have 
obtained  the  votes  of  one  single  tribe  without  the 
aid  of  Curio  ?  you,  whose  intimate  friends  even 


200  Cicero 

were  convicted  of  violence  for  having  been  too 
zealous  in  your  favor. 

But  1  availed  myself  of  your  friendly  assistance. 
Of  what  assistance  ?  although  the  instance  which 
you  cite  1  have  myself  at  all  times  openly  ad- 
mitted. I  preferred  confessing  that  I  was  under 
obligations  to  you,  to  letting  myself  appear  to  any 
foolish  person  not  sufficiently  grateful.  However, 
what  was  the  kindness  that  you  did  me  ?  not  kill- 
ing me  at  Brundusium  ?  Would  you  then  have 
slain  the  man  whom  the  conqueror  himself,  who 
conferred  on  you,  as  you  used  to  boast,  the  chief 
rank  among  all  his  robbers,  had  desired  to  be  safe, 
and  had  enjoined  to  go  to  Italy  ?  Grant  that  you 
could  have  slain  him,  is  not  this,  O  Conscript 
Fathers,  such  a  kindness  as  is  done  by  the  ban- 
ditti, who  are  contented  with  being  able  to  boast 
that  they  have  granted  their  lives  to  all  those  men 
whose  lives  they  have  not  taken  ?  and  if  that 
were  really  a  kindness,  then  those  who  slew  that 
man  by  whom  they  themselves  had  been  saved, 
and  whom  you  yourself  are  in  the  habit  of  styling 
most  illustrious  of  men,  would  never  have  ac- 
quired such  immortal  glory.  But  what  sort  of 
kindness  is  it,  to  have  abstained  from  committing 
nefarious  wickedness?  It  is  a  case  in  which  it 
ought  not  to  appear  so  delightful  to  me  not  to 
have  been  killed  by  you,  as  miserable  that  it 
should  have  been  in  your  power  to  do  such  a 


The  Second  Philippic  201 

thing  with  impunity.  However,  grant  that  it  was 
a  kindness,  since  no  greater  kindness  could  be 
received  from  a  robber,  still  in  what  point  can  you 
call  me  ungrateful  ?  Must  I  not  complain  of  the 
ruin  of  the  Republic,  lest  1  should  appear  ungrate- 
ful toward  you  ?  But  in  that  complaint,  mournful 
indeed  and  miserable,  but  still  unavoidable  for  a 
man  of  that  rank  in  which  the  Senate  and  people 
of  Rome  have  placed  me,  what  did  I  say  that  was 
insulting?  that  was  otherwise  than  moderate? 
that  was  otherwise  than  friendly?  and  what  in- 
stance of  moderation  was  it  not  to  complain  of  the 
conduct  of  Marcus  Antonius,  and  yet  to  abstain 
from  any  abusive  expressions !  especially  when 
you  had  scattered  abroad  all  relics  of  the  Repub- 
lic ;  when  every  thing  was  on  sale  at  your  house 
by  the  most  infamous  traffic  ;  when  you  confessed 
that  those  laws  which  had  never  been  promul- 
gated, had  been  passed  with  reference  to  you, 
and  by  you  ;  when  you,  as  augur,  had  abolished 
the  auspices,  as  consul,  had  taken  away  the  power 
of  interposing  the  veto ;  when  you  were  es- 
corted in  the  most  shameful  manner  by  armed 
guards ;  when,  worn  out  with  drunkenness  and 
debauchery,  you  were  every  day  performing  all 
sorts  of  obscenities  in  that  chaste  house  of  yours. 
But  I,  as  if  I  had  to  contend  against  Marcus 
Crassus,  with  whom  1  have  had  many  severe 
struggles,  and  not  with  a  most  worthless  gladiator, 


202  Cicero 

while  complaining  in  dignified  language  of  the 
state  of  the  Republic,  did  not  say  one  word 
which  could  be  called  personal.  Therefore,  to- 
day I  will  make  him  understand  with  what  great 
kindness  he  was  then  treated  by  me. 

But  he  also  read  letters  which  he  said  that  I  had 
sent  to  him,  like  a  man  devoid  of  humanity  and 
ignorant  of  the  common  usages  of  life.  For  who, 
even  one  but  slightly  acquainted  with  the  habits  of 
polite  men,  ever  produced  in  an  assembly  and 
openly  read  letters  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by 
a  friend,  just  because  some  quarrel  had  arisen  be- 
tween them  ?  Is  not  this  destroying  all  companion- 
ship in  life,  destroying  the  means  by  which  absent 
friends  converse  together?  How  many  jests  are 
frequently  put  in  letters,  which,  if  they  were  pro- 
duced in  public,  would  appear  stupid  !  How  many 
serious  opinions,  which,  for  all  that,  ought  not  to 
be  published !  Let  this  be  a  proof  of  your  utter 
ignorance  of  courtesy.  Now  mark,  also,  his  in- 
credible folly.  What  have  you  to  oppose  to  me, 
O  eloquent  man,  as  you  at  least  seem  to  Mustela 
Tamisius,  and  to  Tiro  Numisius  ?  And  while  these 
men  are  standing  at  this  very  time  in  the  sight  of 
the  Senate  with  drawn  swords,  1  too  will  think  you 
an  eloquent  man  if  you  will  show  how  you  would 
defend  them  if  they  were  charged  with  being 
assassins.  However,  what  answer  would  you 
make  if  1  were  to  deny  that  1  ever  sent  those  letters 


The  Second  Philippic  203 

to  you  ?  By  what  evidence  could  you  convict  me  ? 
by  my  handwriting  ?  Of  [forging]  handwriting  in- 
deed you  have  a  lucrative  knowledge.  How  can 
you  prove  it  in  that  manner  ?  for  the  letters  are 
written  by  an  amanuensis.  By  this  time  1  envy 
your  teacher,  who  for  all  that  payment,  which  I 
shall  mention  presently,  has  taught  you  to  know 
nothing. 

For  what  can  be  less  like,  I  do  not  say  an  orator, 
but  a  man,  than  to  reproach  an  adversary  with  a 
thing  which  if  he  denies  by  one  single  word,  he 
who  has  reproached  him  can  not  advance  one  step 
further  ?  But  I  do  not  deny  it ;  and  in  this  very 
point  1  convict  you  not  only  of  inhumanity  but 
also  of  madness.  For  what  expression  is  there  in 
those  letters  which  is  not  full  of  humanity  and 
service  and  benevolence  ?  and  the  whole  of  your 
charge  amounts  to  this,  that  I  do  not  express  a  bad 
opinion  of  you  in  those  letters  ;  that  in  them  I 
wrote  as  to  a  citizen,  as  to  a  virtuous  man,  not  as 
to  a  wicked  man  and  a  robber.  But  your  letters  1 
will  not  produce,  although  I  fairly  might,  now  that 
I  am  thus  challenged  by  you  ;  letters  in  which  you 
beg  of  me  that  you  may  be  enabled  by  my  consent 
to  procure  the  recall  of  some  one  from  exile  ;  and 
you  will  not  attempt  it  if  I  have  any  objection, 
and  you  prevail  on  me  by  your  entreaties.  For  why 
should  I  put  myself  in  the  way  of  your  audacity, 
when  neither  the  authority  of  this  body,  nor  the 


204  Cicero 

opinion  of  the  Roman  people,  nor  any  laws  are 
able  to  restrain  you  ?  However,  what  was  your 
object  in  addressing  these  entreaties  to  me,  if  the 
man  for  whom  you  were  entreating  was  already 
restored  by  a  law  of  Cassar's  ?  1  suppose  the  truth 
was,  that  he  wished  it  to  be  done  by  me  as  a 
favor ;  in  which  matter  there  could  not  be  any 
favor  done  even  by  himself,  if  a  law  was  already 
passed  for  the  purpose. 

But,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  since  I  have  many 
things  which  1  must  say  both  in  my  own  defense 
and  against  Marcus  Antonius,  one  thing  I  ask  you, 
that  you  will  listen  to  me  with  kindness  while  I  am 
speaking  for  myself;  the  other  I  will  insure  myself, 
namely,  that  you  shall  listen  to  me  with  attention 
while  speaking  against  him.  At  the  same  time  also, 
I  beg  this  of  you  :  that  if  you  have  been  acquainted 
with  my  moderation  and  modesty  throughout  my 
whole  life,  and  especially  as  a  speaker,  you  will  not, 
when  to-day  1  answer  this  man  in  the  spirit  in  which 
he  has  attacked  me,  think  that  1  have  forgotten  my 
usual  character.  I  will  not  treat  him  as  a  consul, 
for  he  did  not  treat  me  as  a  man  of  consular  rank  ; 
and  although  he  in  no  respect  deserves  to  be  con- 
sidered a  consul,  whether  we  regard  his  way  of  life, 
or  his  principle  of  governing  the  Republic,  or  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  elected,  I  am  beyond  all 
dispute  a  man  of  consular  rank. 

That  you   might   understand,  therefore,    what 


The  Second  Philippic  205 

sort  of  a  consul  he  himself  professed  to  be,  he  re- 
proached me  with  my  consulship — a  consulship 
which,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  was  in  name,  indeed, 
mine,  but  in  reality  yours.  For  what  did  I  deter- 
mine, what  did  I  contrive,  what  did  1  do,  that  was 
not  determined,  contrived,  or  done,  by  the  counsel 
and  authority  and  in  accordance  with  the  senti- 
ments of  this  order  ?  And  have  you,  O  wise  man, 
O  man  not  merely  eloquent,  dared  to  find  fault 
with  these  actions  before  the  very  men  by  whose 
counsel  and  wisdom  they  were  performed?  But 
who  was  ever  found  betore,  except  Publius  Clodius, 
to  find  fault  with  my  consulship  ?  And  his  fate  in- 
deed awaits  you,  as  it  also  awaited  Caius  Curio ; 
since  that  which  was  fatal  to  each  of  them  is  now 
in  your  house. 

Marcus  Antonius  disapproves  my  consulship  ; 
but  it  was  approved  by  Publius  Servilius — to  name 
first  that  man  of  those  of  consular  rank  who  has 
died  most  recently.  It  was  approved  by  Quintus 
Catulus,  whose  authority  will  always  carry  weight 
in  this  Republic  ;  it  was  approved  by  the  two  Lu- 
culli,  by  Marcus  Crassus,  by  Quintus  Hortensius, 
by  Caius  Curio,  by  Caius  Piso,  by  Marcus  Glabrio, 
by  Marcus  Lepidus,  by  Lucius  Volcatius,  by  Caius 
Figulus,  by  Decimus  Silanus  and  Lucius  Murena, 
who  at  that  time  were  the  consuls  elect ;  the  same 
consulship  also  which  was  approved  by  those  men 
of  consular  rank,  was  approved  by  Marcus  Cato, 


2o6  Cicero 

who  escaped  many  evils  by  departing  from  this 
life,  and  especially  the  evil  of  seeing  you  consul. 
But,  above  all,  my  consulship  was  approved  by 
Cn^us  Pompeius,  who,  when  he  first  saw  me,  as 
he  was  leaving  Syria,  embracing  me  and  congratu- 
lating me,  said  that  it  was  owing  to  my  services 
that  he  was  about  to  see  his  country  again.  But 
why  should  I  mention  individuals  ?  It  was  ap- 
proved by  the  Senate,  in  a  very  full  house,  so  com- 
pletely, that  there  was  no  one  who  did  not  thank 
me  as  if  I  had  been  his  parent,  who  did  not  attrib- 
ute to  me  the  preservation  of  his  life,  of  his  fortunes, 
of  his  children,  and  of  the  Republic. 

But,  since  the  Republic  has  been  now  deprived 
of  those  men  whom  I  have  named,  many  and  illus- 
trious as  they  were,  let  us  come  to  the  living,  since 
two  of  the  men  of  consular  rank  are  still  left  to  us  : 
Lucius  Cotta,  a  man  of  the  greatest  genius  and  the 
most  consummate  prudence,  proposed  in  the  most 
complimentary  language  a  supplication  in  my 
honor  for  those  very  actions  with  which  you  find 
fault,  and  those  very  men  of  consular  rank  whom  I 
have  named,  and  the  whole  Senate,  adopted  his 
proposal ;  an  honor  which  has  never  been  paid  to 
any  one  else  in  the  garb  of  peace  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  city  to  my  time.  With  what  eloquence, 
with  what  firm  wisdom,  with  what  a  weight  of 
authority  did  Lucius  C^sar,  your  uncle,  pronounce 
his  opinion  against  the  husband  of  his  own  sister, 


The  Second  Philippic  207 

your  step-father.  But  you,  when  you  ought  to 
have  taken  him  as  your  adviser  and  tutor  in  all  your 
designs  and  in  the  whole  conduct  of  your  life,  pre- 
ferred being  like  your  step-father  to  resembling 
your  uncle.  I,  who  had  no  connection  with  him, 
acted  by  his  counsels  while  I  was  consul.  Did 
you,  who  were  his  sister's  son,  ever  once  consult 
him  on  the  affairs  of  the  Republic  ? 

But  who  are  they  whom  Antonius  does  con- 
sult ?  O  ye  immortal  gods,  they  are  men  whose 
birthdays  we  have  still  to  learn.  To-day  Antonius 
is  not  coming  down.  Why  ?  He  is  celebrating 
the  birthday  feast  at  his  villa.  In  whose  honor  ? 
I  will  name  no  one.  Suppose  it  is  in  honor  of  some 
Phormio,  or  Gnatho,  or  even  Ballio.  Oh,  the 
abominable  profligacy  of  the  man  !  oh,  how  intol- 
erable is  his  impudence,  his  debauchery,  and  his 
lust !  Can  you,  when  you  have  one  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  Senate,  a  citizen  of  singular  virtue,  so  nearly 
related  to  you,  abstain  from  ever  consulting  him  on 
the  affairs  of  the  Republic,  and  consult  men  who 
have  no  property  whatever  of  their  own,  and  are 
draining  yours  ? 

Yes,  your  consulship,  forsooth,  is  a  salutary  one 
for  the  State,  mine  a  mischievous  one.  Have  you 
so  entirely  lost  all  shame  as  well  as  all  chastity, 
that  you  could  venture  to  say  this  in  the  temple  in 
which  I  was  consulting  that  Senate  which  formerly, 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  its  honors,  presided  over 


2o8  Cicero 

the  world  ?  And  did  you  not  place  around  it  aban- 
doned men  armed  with  swords  ?  But  you  have 
dared  besides  (what  is  there  which  you  would  not 
dare  ?)  to  say  that  the  Capitoline  Hill,  when  1  was 
consul,  was  full  of  armed  slaves.  I  was  offering 
violence  to  the  Senate,  I  suppose,  in  order  to  com- 
pel the  adoption  of  those  infamous  decrees  of  the 
Senate.  O  wretched  man,  I  ask  whether  those 
things  are  unknown  to  you  (for  you  know  nothing 
that  is  good),  or  whether  they  are  known,  when 
you  dare  to  speak  so  shamelessly  before  such  men. 
For  what  Roman  knight  was  there,  what  youth  of 
noble  birth  except  you,  what  man  of  any  rank  or 
class  who  remembered  that  he  was  a  citizen,  who 
was  not  on  the  Capitoline  Hill  while  the  Senate 
was  assembled  in  this  temple  ?  who  was  there, 
who  did  not  give  in  his  name  ?  Indeed,  there 
could  not  be  provided  checks  enough,  nor  were  the 
books  able  to  contain  their  names. 

In  truth,  when  wicked  men,  being  compelled 
by  the  revelations  of  the  accomplices,  by  their  own 
handwriting,  and  by  what  I  may  almost  call  the 
voices  of  their  letters,  were  confessing  that  they 
had  planned  the  parricidal  destruction  of  their  coun- 
try, and  that  they  had  agreed  to  burn  the  city,  to 
massacre  the  citizens,  to  devastate  Italy,  to  destroy 
the  Republic,  who  could  have  existed  without 
being  roused  to  defend  the  common  safety  ?  espe- 
cially at  that  time  when  the  Senate  and  people  of 


The  Second  Philippic  209 

Rome  had  a  leader ;  and  if  they  now  had  one  such 
as  he  then  was,  the  same  fate  would  befall  you 
which  overtook  them. 

He  asserts  that  the  body  of  his  step-father  was 
not  allowed  burial  by  me.  But  this  is  an  assertion 
that  was  never  made  by  Publius  Clodius,  a  man 
whom,  as  I  was  deservedly  his  enemy,  I  grieve  now 
to  see  surpassed  by  you  in  every  sort  of  vice.  But 
how  could  it  occur  to  you  to  recall  to  our  recollec- 
tion that  you  had  been  educated  in  the  house  of 
Publius  Lentulus  ?  Were  you  afraid  that  we  might 
think  that  you  could  have  turned  out  as  infamous 
as  you  are  by  the  mere  force  of  nature,  if  your 
natural  qualities  had  not  been  strengthened  by 
education  ? 

But  you  are  so  senseless  that  throughout  the 
whole  of  your  speech  you  were  at  variance  with 
yourself;  so  that  you  said  things  which  not  only 
had  no  coherence  with  each  other,  but  which  were 
most  inconsistent  with  and  contradictory  to  one  an- 
other ;  so  that  there  was  not  so  much  opposition  be- 
tween you  and  me  as  there  was  between  you  and 
yourself.  You  confessed  that  your  step-father  had 
been  implicated  in  that  enormous  wickedness,  yet 
you  complained  that  he  had  had  punishment  in- 
flicted on  him.  And  by  doing  so  you  praised  that 
which  was  peculiarly  my  achievement,  and  blamed 
that  which  was  wholly  the  act  of  the  Senate.  For 
the  detection  and  arrest  of  the  guilty  parties  was 

VOL   II. — 14. 


2IO  Cicero 

my  work,  their  punishment  was  the  work  of  the 
Senate.  But  that  eloquent  man  does  not  perceive 
that  the  man  against  whom  he  is  speaking  is  being 
praised  by  him,  and  that  those  before  whom  he  is 
speaking  are  being  attacked  by  him.  But  now 
what  an  act,  I  will  not  say  of  audacity  (for  he  is 
anxious  to  be  audacious),  but  (and  this  is  what  he 
does  not  desire)  what  an  act  of  folly,  in  which  he 
surpasses  all  men,  is  it  to  make  mention  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill,  at  a  time  when  armed  men  are 
actually  between  our  benches — when  men,  armed 
with  swords,  are  now  stationed  in  this  same  Tem- 
ple of  Concord,  O  ye  immortal  gods,  in  which, 
while  1  was  consul,  opinions  most  salutary  to  the 
State  were  delivered,  owing  to  which  it  is  that  we 
are  all  alive  at  this  day. 

Accuse  the  Senate  ;  accuse  the  Equestrian  body, 
which  at  that  time  was  united  with  the  Senate ; 
accuse  every  order  of  society,  and  all  the  citizens, 
as  long  as  you  confess  that  this  assembly  at  this 
very  moment  is  besieged  by  Ityrean  soldiers.  It 
is  not  so  much  a  proof  of  audacity  so  impudently 
to  advance  these  statements,  as  of  utter  want 
of  sense  to  be  unable  to  see  their  contradictory 
nature.  For  what  is  more  insane  than,  after  you 
yourself  have  taken  up  arms  to  do  mischief  to  the 
Republic,  to  reproach  another  with  having  taken 
them  up  to  secure  its  safety  ?  On  one  occasion 
you  attempted  even  to  be  witty.    O  ye  good  gods, 


I 

The  Second  Philippic  211 

how  little  did  that  attempt  suit  you  !  And  yet  you 
are  a  little  to  be  blamed  for  your  failure  in  that 
instance,  too.  For  you  might  have  got  some  wit 
from  your  wife,  who  was  an  actress.  ' '  Arms  to  the 
gown  must  yield."  Well,  have  they  not  yielded  ? 
But  afterward  the  gown  yielded  to  your  arms.  Let 
us  inquire  then  whether  it  was  better  for  the  arms 
of  wicked  men  to  yield  to  the  freedom  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  or  that  our  liberty  should  yield  to  your 
arms.  Nor  will  I  make  any  further  reply  to  you 
about  the  verses.  I  will  only  say  briefly  that  you 
do  not  understand  them,  nor  any  other  literature 
whatever.  I  have  never  at  any  time  been  unmind- 
ful of  the  claims  that  either  the  Republic  or  my 
friends  had  upon  me  ;  but  nevertheless,  in  all  the 
different  sorts  of  composition  on  which  I  have 
employed  myself,  during  my  leisure  hours,  I  have 
always  endeavored  to  make  my  labors  and  my 
writings  such  as  to  be  some  advantage  to  our 
youth,  and  some  credit  to  the  Roman  name.  But, 
however,  all  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  pres- 
ent occasion.  Let  us  consider  more  important 
matters. 

You  have  said  that  Publius  Clodius  was  slain 
by  my  contrivance.  What  would  men  have 
thought  if  he  had  been  slain  at  the  time  when  you 
pursued  him  in  the  Forum  with  a  drawn  sword,  in 
the  sight  of  all  the  Roman  people  ?  and  when  you 
would  have  slain  him  if  he  had  not  thrown  himself 


2 1 2  Cicero 

up  the  stairs  of  a  bookseller's  shop,  and,  shutting 
them  against  you,  checked  your  attack  by  that 
means.  And  1  confess  that  at  that  time  I  favored 
you,  but  even  you  yourself  do  not  say  that  1  had 
advised  your  attempt.  But  as  for  Milo,  it  was  not 
possible  even  for  me  to  favor  his  action.  For  he 
had  finished  the  business  before  any  one  could  sus- 
pect that  he  was  going  to  do  it.  Oh,  but  1  advised 
it.  I  suppose  Milo  was  a  man  of  such  a  disposition 
that  he  was  not  able  to  do  a  service  to  the  Repub- 
lic if  he  had  not  some  one  to  advise  him  to  do  it. 
But  1  rejoiced  at  it.  Well,  suppose  I  did  ;  was  I  to 
be  the  only  sorrowful  person  in  the  city,  when 
every  one  else  was  in  such  delight  ?  it  may  be 
that  that  inquiry  into  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius 
was  not  instituted  with  any  great  wisdom.  For 
what  was  the  reason  for  having  a  new  law  to  in- 
quire into  the  conduct  of  the  man  who  had  slain 
him,  when  there  was  a  form  of  inquiry  already  es- 
tablished by  the  laws  ?  However,  an  inquiry  was 
instituted.  And  have  you  now  been  found,  so 
many  years  afterward,  to  say  a  thing  which,  at  the 
time  that  the  affair  was  under  discussion,  no  one 
ventured  to  say  against  me  ?  But  as  to  the  asser- 
tion that  you  have  dared  to  make,  and  that  at  great 
length  too,  that  it  was  by  my  means  that  Pompeius 
was  alienated  from  his  friendship  with  Caesar,  and 
that  on  that  account  it  was  my  fault  that  the  civil 
war  was  originated  ;  in  that  you  have  not  erred  so 


The  Second  Philippic  213 

much  in  the  main  facts,  as  (and  that  is  of  the  great- 
est importance)  in  the  times. 

When  Marcus  Bibulus,  a  most  illustrious  citizen, 
was  consul,  1  omitted  nothing  which  1  could  possi- 
bly do  or  attempt  to  draw  off  Pompeius  from  his 
union  with  C^sar.  In  which,  however,  C^sar 
was  more  fortunate  than  I,  for  he  himself  drew  off 
Pompeius  from  his  intimacy  with  me.  But  after- 
ward, when  Pompeius  joined  Caesar  with  all  his 
heart,  what  could  have  been  my  object  in  attempt- 
ing to  separate  them  then  ?  It  would  have  been 
the  part  of  a  fool  to  hope  to  do  so,  and  of  an  impu- 
dent man  to  advise  it.  However,  two  occasions 
did  arise  on  which  1  gave  Pompeius  advice  against 
C^sar.  You  are  at  liberty  to  find  fault  with  my 
conduct  on  those  occasions  if  you  can.  One  was 
when  I  advised  him  not  to  continue  Cesar's  gov- 
ernment for  five  years  more.  The  other,  when 
I  advised  him  not  to  permit  him  to  be  considered 
as  a  candidate  for  the  consulship  when  he  was 
absent.  And  if  1  had  been  able  to  prevail  on  him 
in  either  of  these  particulars,  we  should  never  have 
fallen  into  our  present  miseries. 

Moreover,  when  Pompeius  had  now  devoted 
to  the  service  of  Cassar  all  his  own  power,  and 
all  the  power  of  the  Roman  people,  and  had  begun 
when  it  was  too  late  to  perceive  all  those  things 
which  I  had  foreseen  long  before,  and  when  1  saw 
that  a  nefarious  war  was  about   to   be  waged 


214  Cicero 

against  our  country,  I  never  ceased  to  be  the 
adviser  of  peace,  and  concord,  and  some  arrange- 
ment. And  this  language  of  mine  was  well  known 
to  many  people, — "\  wish,  O  Cnieus  Pompeius, 
that  you  had  either  never  joined  in  a  confederacy 
with  Caius  Ccesar,  or  else  that  you  had  never  broken 
it  off.  The  one  conduct  would  have  become  your 
dignity,  and  the  other  would  have  been  suited  to 
your  prudence."  This,  O  Marcus  Antonius,  was 
at  all  times  my  advice  both  respecting  Pompeius 
and  concerning  the  Republic.  And  if  it  had  pre- 
vailed, the  Republic  would  still  be  standing,  and 
you  would  have  perished  through  your  own 
crimes,  indigence,  and  infamy. 

But  these  are  all  old  stories  now.  This  charge, 
however,  that  Caesar  was  slain  by  my  contrivance, 
is  quite  modern.  1  am  afraid,  O  Conscript  Fathers, 
lest  I  should  appear  to  you  to  have  brought  up 
a  sham  accuser  against  myself  (which  is  a  most 
disgraceful  thing  to  do)  ;  a  man  not  only  to  dis- 
tinguish me  by  the  praises  which  are  my  due,  but 
to  load  me  also  with  those  which  do  not  belong 
to  me.  For  who  ever  heard  my  name  mentioned 
as  an  accomplice  in  that  most  glorious  action  ? 
and  whose  name  has  been  concealed  who  was 
in  the  number  of  that  gallant  band  ?  Concealed, 
do  1  say  ?  Whose  name  was  there  which  was  not 
at  once  made  public?  1  should  sooner  say  that 
some  men  had  boasted  in  order  to  appear  to  have 


The  Second  Philippic  215 

been  concerned  in  that  conspiracy,  though  they 
had  in  reality  known  nothing  of  it,  than  that  any 
one  who  had  been  an  accomplice  in  it  could  have 
wished  to  be  concealed.  Moreover,  how  likely 
it  is,  that  among  such  a  number  of  men,  some 
obscure,  some  young  men  who  had  not  the  wit  to 
conceal  any  one,  my  name  could  possibly  have 
escaped  notice  !  Indeed,  if  leaders  were  wanted 
for  the  purpose  of  delivering  the  country,  what 
need  was  there  of  my  inciting  the  Bruti,  one  of 
whom  saw  every  day  in  his  house  the  image  of 
Lucius  Brutus,  and  the  other  saw  also  the  image 
of  Ahala  ?  Were  these  the  men  to  seek  counsel 
from  the  ancestors  of  others  rather  than  from  their 
own  ?  and  out  of  doors  rather  than  at  home  ? 
What !  Caius  Cassius,  a  man  of  that  family  which 
could  not  endure,  I  will  not  say  the  domination, 
but  even  the  power  of  any  individual, — he,  I  sup- 
pose, was  in  need  of  me  to  incite  him  ?  a  man 
who,  even  without  the  assistance  of  these  other 
most  illustrious  men,  would  have  accomplished 
this  same  deed  in  Cilicia,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Cydnus,  if  C^sar  had  brought  his  ships  to  that 
bank  of  the  river  which  he  had  intended,  and  not 
to  the  opposite  one.  Was  Cnasus  Domitius  spurred 
on  to  seek  to  recover  his  dignity,  not  by  the  death 
of  his  father,  a  most  illustrious  man,  nor  by  the 
death  of  his  uncle,  nor  by  the  deprivation  of  his 
own  dignity,  but  by  my  advice  and  authority  ? 


2i6  Cicero 

Did  I  persuade  Caius  Trebonius  ?  a  man  whom 
I  should  not  have  ventured  even  to  advise.  And 
on  this  account  the  Republic  owes  him  even  a 
larger  debt  of  gratitude,  because  he  preferred  the 
liberty  of  the  Roman  people  to  the  friendship  of 
one  man,  because  he  preferred  overthrowing  ar- 
bitrary power  to  sharing  it.  Was  I  the  inciter 
whom  Lucius  Tillius  Cimber  followed  ?  a  man 
whom  1  admired  for  having  performed  that  action, 
rather  than  ever  expected  that  he  would  perform 
it ;  and  I  admired  him  on  this  account,  that  he  was 
unmindful  of  the  personal  kindness  which  he  had 
received,  but  mindful  of  his  country.  What  shall 
I  say  of  the  two  Servilii  ?  Shall  I  call  them  Cas- 
cas,  or  Ahalas  ?  and  do  you  think  that  those  men 
were  incited  by  my  authority  rather  than  by  their 
affection  for  the  Republic  ?  It  would  take  a  long 
time  to  go  through  all  the  rest;  and  it  is  a  glorious 
thing  for  the  Republic  that  they  were  so  numer- 
ous ;  and  a  most  honorable  thing  also  for  them- 
selves. 

But  recollect,  I  pray  you,  how  that  clever  man 
convicted  me  of  being  an  accomplice  in  the  busi- 
ness. When  C^sar  was  slain,  he  says,  Marcus 
Brutus  immediately  lifted  up  on  high  his  bloody 
dagger,  and  called  on  Cicero  by  name,  and  con- 
gratulated him  on  liberty  being  recovered.  Why 
on  me  above  all  men  ?  Because  I  knew  of  it  be- 
forehand ?    Consider  rather  whether  this  was  not 


The  Second  Philippic  217 

his  reason  for  calling  on  me,  that,  when  he  had 
performed  an  action  very  like  those  which  I  myself 
had  done,  he  called  me  above  all  men  to  witness 
that  he  had  been  an  imitator  of  my  exploits.  But 
you,  O  stupidest  of  all  men,  do  not  you  perceive, 
that  if  it  is  a  crime  to  have  wished  that  C^sar 
should  be  slain — which  you  accuse  me  of  having 
wished — it  is  a  crime  also  to  have  rejoiced  at  his 
death  ?  For  what  is  the  difference  between  a  man 
who  has  advised  an  action  and  one  who  has  ap- 
proved it  ?  or  what  does  it  signify  whether  1  wished 
it  to  be  done  or  rejoice  that  it  has  been  done  ?  Is 
there  any  one  then,  except  you  yourself  and  those 
men  who  wished  him  to  become  a  king,  who  was 
unwilling  that  that  deed  should  be  done  or  who 
disapproved  it  after  it  was  done  ?  All  men,  there- 
fore, are  guilty  as  far  as  this  goes.  In  truth,  all 
good  men,  as  far  as  it  depended  on  them,  bore  a 
part  in  the  slaying  of  Caesar.  Some  did  not  know 
how  to  contrive  it,  some  had  not  the  courage  for 
it,  some  had  no  opportunity, — every  one  had  the 
inclination. 

However,  mark  the  stupidity  of  this  fellow, — 
I  should  rather  say,  of  this  brute  beast.  For  thus 
he  spoke :  ''Marcus  Brutus,  whom  1  name  to  do 
him  honor,  holding  aloft  his  bloody  dagger,  called 
upon  Cicero,  from  which  it  must  be  understood 
that  he  was  privy  to  the  action. "  Am  I  then  called 
wicked  by  you  because  you  suspect  that  I  suspected 


2i8  Cicero 

something?  and  is  he  who  openly  displayed  his 
reeking  dagger  named  by  you  that  you  may  do 
him  honor  ?  Be  it  so.  Let  this  stupidity  exist  in 
your  language  ;  how  much  greater  is  it  in  your 
actions  and  opinions  !  Arrange  matters  in  this  way 
at  last,  O  consul ;  pronounce  the  cause  of  the 
Bruti,  of  Caius  Cassius,  of  Cnieus  Domitius,  of 
Caius  Trebonius  and  the  rest  to  be  whatever  you 
please  to  call  it :  sleep  off  that  intoxication  of  yours, 
sleep  it  off  and  take  breath.  Must  one  apply  a 
torch  to  you  to  awaken  you  while  you  are  sleeping 
over  such  an  important  affair  ?  Will  you  never 
understand  that  you  have  to  decide  whether  those 
men  who  performed  that  action  are  homicides  or 
asserters  of  freedom  ? 

For  just  consider  a  little  ;  and  for  a  moment  think 
of  the  business  like  a  sober  man.  1  who,  as  I 
myself  confess,  am  an  intimate  friend  of  those  men, 
and,  as  you  accuse  me,  an  accomplice  of  theirs, 
deny  that  there  is  any  medium  between  these 
alternatives.  I  confess  that  they,  if  they  be  not 
deliverers  of  the  Roman  people  and  saviors  of  the 
Republic,  are  worse  than  assassins,  worse  than 
homicides,  worse  even  than  parricides :  since  it  is 
a  more  atrocious  thing  to  murder  the  father  of  one's 
country  than  one's  own  father.  You  wise  and 
considerate  man,  what  do  you  say  to  this  ?  If 
they  are  parricides,  why  are  they  always  named  by 
you,  both  in  this  assembly  and  before  the  Roman 


The  Second  Philippic  219 

people,  with  a  view  to  do  them  honor  ?  Why  has 
Marcus  Brutus  been,  on  your  motion,  excused  from 
obedience  to  the  laws,  and  allowed  [against  the 
law]  to  be  absent  from  the  city  more  than  ten  days  ? 
Why  were  the  games  of  Apollo  celebrated  with 
almost  incredible  honor  to  Marcus  Brutus  ?  why 
were  provinces  given  to  Brutus  and  Cassius  ?  why 
were  quaestors  assigned  to  them  ?  why  was  the 
number  of  their  lieutenants  augmented  ?  And  all 
these  measures  were  owing  to  you.  They  are  not 
homicides  then.  It  follows  that  in  your  opinion 
they  are  deliverers  of  their  country,  since  there  can 
be  no  other  alternative.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Am 
1  embarrassing  you  ?  For  perhaps  you  do  not 
quite  understand  propositions  which  are  stated 
disjunctively.  Still  this  is  the  sum  total  of  my 
conclusions  :  that  since  they  are  acquitted  by  you 
of  wickedness,  they  are  at  the  same  time  pro- 
nounced most  worthy  of  the  very  most  honorable 
rewards. 

Therefore  I  will  now  proceed  again  with  my 
oration.  1  will  write  to  them,  if  any  one  by  chance 
should  ask  whether  what  you  have  imputed  to  me 
be  true,  not  to  deny  it  to  any  one.  In  truth,  I  am 
afraid  that  it  must  be  considered  either  a  not  very 
creditable  thing  to  them  that  they  should  have 
concealed  the  fact  of  my  being  an  accomplice,  or 
else  a  most  discreditable  one  to  me  that  I  was 
invited  to  be  one,  and  that  I  shirked  it.     For  what 


2  20  Cicero 

greater  exploit  (I  call  you  to  witness,  O  august 
Jupiter !)  was  ever  achieved,  not  only  in  this  city, 
but  in  all  the  earth  ?  What  more  glorious  action 
was  ever  done  ?  What  deed  was  ever  more  de- 
servedly recommended  to  the  everlasting  recollec- 
tion of  men  ?  Do  you,  then,  shut  me  up  with  the 
other  leaders  in  the  partnership  in  this  design,  as  in 
the  Trojan  horse  ?  I  have  no  objection  ;  I  even 
thank  you  for  doing  so,  with  whatever  intent  you 
do  it.  For  the  deed  is  so  great  an  one,  that  I  can 
not  compare  the  unpopularity  which  you  wish  to 
excite  against  me  on  account  of  it  with  its  real 
glory. 

For  who  can  be  happier  than  those  men  whom 
you  boast  of  having  now  expelled  and  driven  from 
the  city  ?  What  place  is  there  either  so  deserted 
or  so  uncivilized  as  not  to  seem  to  greet  and  to 
covet  the  presence  of  those  men  wherever  they 
have  arrived  ?  What  men  are  so  clownish  as  not, 
when  they  have  once  beheld  them,  to  think  that 
they  have  reaped  the  greatest  enjoyment  that  life 
can  give  ?  And  what  posterity  will  ever  be  so  for- 
getful, what  literature  will  ever  be  found  so  un- 
grateful, as  not  to  cherish  their  glory  with  undying 
recollection  ?  Enrol  me  then,  I  beg,  in  the  number 
of  those  men. 

But  one  thing  I  am  afraid  you  may  not  approve 
of.  For  if  I  had  really  been  one  of  their  number,  I 
should  have  driven  out  of  the  Republic  not  only  the 


The  Second  Philippic  221 

king,  but  also  the  kingly  power ;  and  if  1  had  been 
the  author  of  the  piece,  as  it  is  said,  believe  me,  I 
should  not  have  been  contented  with  one  act,  but 
should  have  finished  the  whole  play.  Although,  if 
it  be  a  crime  to  have  wished  that  Ciesar  might  be 
put  to  death,  beware,  1  pray  you,  O  Antonius,  of 
your  own  case,  as  it  is  notorious  that  you,  when  at 
Narbo,  formed  a  plan  of  the  same  sort  with  Caius 
Trebonius  ;  and  it  was  on  account  of  your  partici- 
pation in  that  design  that,  when  C^sar  was  being 
killed,  we  saw  you  called  aside  by  Trebonius.  But 
I  (see  how  far  1  am  from  any  horrible  inclination 
toward  you)  praise  you  for  having  once  in  your 
life  had  a  righteous  intention  ;  I  return  you  thanks 
for  not  having  revealed  the  matter ;  and  I  excuse 
you  for  not  having  accomplished  your  purpose. 
That  exploit  required  a  man. 

And  if  any  one  should  institute  a  prosecution 
against  you,  and  employ  that  test  of  old  Cassius, 
"  who  reaped  any  advantage  from  it  ?  "  take  care,  I 
advise  you,  lest  you  suit  that  description.  Although, 
in  truth,  that  action  was,  as  you  used  to  say,  an 
advantage  to  every  one  who  was  not  willing  to  be 
a  slave,  still  it  was  so  to  you  above  all  men,  who 
are  not  merely  not  a  slave,  but  are  actually  a  king ; 
who  delivered  yourself  from  an  enormous  burden 
of  debt  at  the  temple  of  Ops  ;  who,  by  your  deal- 
ings with  the  account-books,  squandered  there  a 
countless  sum  of  money;  who  have  had  such  vast 


222  Cicero 

treasures  brought  to  you  from  Caesar's  house ;  at 
whose  own  house  there  is  set  up  a  most  lucrative 
manufoctory  of  false  memoranda  and  autographs, 
and  a  most  iniquitous  market  of  lands,  and  towns, 
and  exemptions,  and  revenues.  In  truth,  what 
measure  except  the  death  of  Caesar  could  possibly 
have  been  any  relief  to  your  indigent  and  insolvent 
condition  ?  You  appear  to  be  somewhat  agitated. 
Have  you  any  secret  fear  that  you  yourself  may 
appear  to  have  had  some  connection  with  that 
crime  ?  I  will  release  you  from  all  apprehension  ; 
no  one  will  ever  believe  it ;  it  is  not  like  you  to  de- 
serve well  of  the  Republic;  the  most  illustrious  men 
in  the  Republic  are  the  authors  of  that  exploit ;  I 
only  say  that  you  are  glad  it  was  done  ;  I  do  not 
accuse  you  of  having  done  it. 

I  have  replied  to  your  heaviest  accusations ;  I 
must  now  also  reply  to  the  rest  of  them. 

You  have  thrown  in  my  teeth  the  camp  of  Pom- 
peius  and  all  my  conduct  at  that  time.  At  which 
time,  indeed,  if  my  counsels  and  my  authority  had 
prevailed,  as  1  have  said  before,  you  would  this  day 
be  in  indigence,  we  should  be  free,  and  the  Re- 
public would  not  have  lost  so  many  generals  and 
so  many  armies.  For  I  confess  that  when  1  saw 
that  these  things  certainly  would  happen  which 
now  have  happened,  1  was  as  greatly  grieved  as  all 
other  virtuous  citizens  would  have  been  if  they  had 
foreseen  the  same  things.     I  did  grieve,  I  did  grieve, 


The  Second  Philippic  223 

0  Conscript  Fathers,  that  the  Republic  which  had 
once  been  saved  by  your  counsels  and  mine,  was 
fated  to  perish  in  a  short  time.  Nor  was  1  so  inex- 
perienced in  and  ignorant  of  this  nature  of  things 
as  to  be  disheartened  on  account  of  a  fondness  for 
life,  which  while  it  endured  would  wear  me  out 
with  anguish,  and  when  brought  to  an  end  would 
release  me  from  all  trouble.  But  1  was  desirous  that 
those  most  illustrious  men,  the  lights  of  the  Re- 
public, should  live  :  so  many  men  of  consular  rank, 
so  many  men  of  praetorian  rank,  so  many  most 
honorable  senators  ;  and  besides  them  all  the 
flower  of  our  nobility  and  of  our  youth  ;  and  the 
armies  of  excellent  citizens.  And  if  they  were 
still  alive,  under  ever  such  hard  conditions  of 
peace  (for  any  sort  of  peace  with  our  fellow-cit- 
izens appeared  to  me  more  desirable  than  civil 
war),  we  should  be  this  day  still  enjoying  the  Re- 
public. 

If  my  opinion  had  prevailed,  and  if  those  men, 
the  preservation  of  whose  lives  was  my  main  ob- 
ject, elated  with  the  hope  of  victory,  had  not  been 
my  chief  opposers,  to  say  nothing  of  other  results, 
at  all  events  you  would  never  have  continued  in 
this  order,  or  rather  in  this  city.  But  say  you,  my 
speech  alienated  from  me  the  regard  of  Pompeius  ? 
Was  there  any  one  to  whom  he  was  more  attached  ? 
any  one  with  whom  he  conversed  or  shared  his 
counsels  more  frequently  ?    It  was,  indeed,  a  great 


2  24  Cicero 

thing  that  we,  differing  as  we  did  respecting  the 
general  interests  of  the  Republic,  should  continue 
in  uninterrupted  friendship.  But  1  saw  clearly  what 
his  opinions  and  views  were,  and  he  saw  mine 
equally.  I  was  for  providing  for  the  safety  of  the 
citizens  in  the  first  place,  in  order  that  we  might  be 
able  to  consult  their  dignity  afterward.  He  thought 
more  of  consulting  their  existing  dignity.  But  be- 
cause each  of  us  had  a  definite  object  to  pursue, 
our  disagreement  was  the  more  endurable.  But 
what  that  extraordinary  and  almost  godlike  man 
thought  of  me  is  known  to  those  men  who  pursued 
him  to  Paphos  from  the  battle  of  Pharsalia.  No 
mention  of  me  was  ever  made  by  him  that  was  not 
the  most  honorable  that  could  be,  that  was  not  full 
of  the  most  friendly  regard  for  me  ;  while  he  con- 
fessed that  I  had  had  the  more  foresight,  but  that 
he  had  had  more  sanguine  hopes.  And  do  you 
dare  taunt  me  with  the  name  of  that  man  whose 
friend  you  admit  that  I  was,  and  whose  assassin 
you  confess  yourself  ? 

However,  let  us  say  no  more  of  that  war,  in 
which  you  were  too  fortunate.  I  will  not  reply 
even  with  those  jests  to  which  you  have  said  that 
I  gave  utterance  in  the  camp.  That  camp  was  in 
truth  full  of  anxiety,  but  although  men  are  in  great 
difficulties,  still,  provided  they  are  men,  they  some- 
times relax  their  minds.  But  the  fact  that  the  same 
man  finds  fault  with  my  melancholy,  and  also  with 


The  Second  Philippic  225 

my  jokes,  is  a  great  proof  that  I  was  very  moderate 
in  each  particular. 

You  have  said  that  no  inheritances  come  to  me. 
Would  that  this  accusation  of  yours  were  a  true 
one !  I  should  have  more  of  my  friends  and  con- 
nections alive.  But  how  could  such  a  charge  ever 
come  into  your  head  ?  For  I  have  received  more 
than  twenty  millions  of  sesterces  in  inheritances. 
Yet  in  this  particular  I  must  admit  that  you  have 
been  more  fortunate  than  I.  No  one  has  ever  made 
me  his  heir  unless  he  was  a  friend  of  mine,  in  order 
that  my  grief  of  mind  for  his  loss  might  be  accom- 
panied also  with  some  gain,  if  it  might  be  considered 
such.  But  a  man  whom  you  never  even  saw, 
Lucius  Rubrius,  of  Casinum,  made  you  his  heir. 
And  see  now  how  much  he  loved  you,  who,  though 
he  did  not  know  whether  you  were  white  or  black, 
passed  over  the  son  of  his  brother,  Quintus  Fufius, 
a  most  honorable  Roman  knight,  and  most  attached 
to  him,  whom  he  had  on  all  occasions  openly  de- 
clared his  heir  (he  never  even  names  him  in  his  will), 
and  he  makes  you  his  heir  whom  he  had  never 
seen,  or  at  all  events  had  never  spoken  to. 

I  wish  you  would  tell  me,  if  it  is  not  too  much 
trouble,  of  what  sort  of  countenance  was  Lucius  Tur- 
selius  ;  of  what  sort  of  height ;  from  what  municipal 
town  he  came  ;  and  of  what  tribe  he  was  a  mem- 
ber. "I  know  nothing,"  you  will  say,  "about 
him,  except  what  farms  he  had."    And  yet  he, 

VOL.    II. — 15. 


2  26  Cicero 

disinheriting  his  brother,  made  you  his  heir.  And 
besides  these  instances,  this  man  has  seized  on 
much  other  property  belonging  to  men  wholly 
unconnected  with  him,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
legitimate  heirs,  as  if  he  himself  were  the  heir. 
The  thing,  however,  that  struck  me  with  most 
astonishment  of  all  was,  that  you  should  ven- 
ture to  mention  inheritances,  when  you  yourself 
had  not  received  the  inheritance  of  your  own 
father. 

Was  it  in  order  to  collect  all  these  arguments,  O 
most  senseless  of  men,  that  you  spent  so  many 
days  in  practising  declamation  in  another  man's 
villa  ?  Although,  indeed  (as  your  most  intimate 
friends  usually  say),  you  are  in  the  habit  of  de- 
claiming, not  for  the  purpose  of  whetting  your  gen- 
ius, but  of  working  off  the  effects  of  wine.  And, 
indeed,  you  employ  a  master  to  teach  you  jokes,  a 
man  appointed  by  your  own  vote  and  that  of  your 
boon  companions  ;  a  rhetorician,  whom  you  have 
allowed  to  say  whatever  he  pleased  against  you,  a 
thoroughly  facetious  gentleman  ;  but  there  are 
plenty  of  materials  for  speaking  against  you  and 
against  your  friends.  But  just  see  now  what  a 
difference  there  is  between  you  and  your  grand- 
father. He  used  with  great  deliberation  to  bring 
forth  arguments  advantageous  to  the  cause  he  was 
advocating ;  you  pour  forth  in  a  hurry  the  senti- 
ments which  you  have  been  taught  by  another. 


The  Second  Philippic  227 

And  what  wages  have  you  paid  this  rhetorician  ? 
Listen,  listen,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  and  learn  the 
blows  which  are  inflicted  on  the  Republic.  You 
have  assigned,  O  Antonius,  two  thousand  jugera  of 
land,  in  the  Leontine  district,  to  Sextus  Clodius, 
the  rhetorician,  and  those,  too,  exempt  from  every 
kind  of  tax,  for  the  sake  of  putting  the  Roman  peo- 
ple to  such  a  vast  expense  that  you  might  learn  to 
be  a  fool.  Was  this  gift,  too,  O  most  audacious  of 
men,  found  among  Cesar's  papers  ?  But  I  will 
take  another  opportunity  to  speak  about  the  Leon- 
tine  and  the  Campanian  district,  where  he  has 
stolen  lands  from  the  Republic  to  pollute  them  with 
most  infamous  owners.  For  now,  since  I  have 
sufficiently  replied  to  all  his  charges,  1  must  say  a 
little  about  our  corrector  and  censor  himself.  And 
yet  I  will  not  say  all  I  could,  in  order  that  if  I  have 
often  to  battle  with  him  I  may  always  come  to  the 
contest  with  fresh  arms  ;  and  the  multitude  of  his 
vices  and  atrocities  will  easily  enable  me  to  do  so. 

But  let  us  say  no  more  of  your  profligacy  and 
debauchery.  There  are  things  which  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  me  to  mention  with  honor ;  but  you  are 
all  the  more  free  for  that,  inasmuch  as  you  have 
not  scrupled  to  be  an  actor  in  scenes  which  a 
modest  enemy  can  not  bring  himself  to  mention. 

However,  let  us  return  to  the  subject  of  Caesar's 
written  papers.  How  were  they  verified  by  you  ? 
For  the  acts  of  Cassar  were  for  the  sake  of  peace 


2  28  Cicero 

confirmed  by  the  Senate  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  acts 
which  Cresar  had  really  done,  not  those  which 
Antonius  said  that  C^sar  had  done.  Where  do  all 
these  come  from  ?  By  whom  are  they  produced 
and  vouched  for  ?  If  they  are  false,  why  are  they 
ratified?  if  they  are  true,  why  are  they  sold  ?  But 
the  vote  which  was  taken  enjoined  you,  after  the 
first  of  June,  to  make  an  examination  of  Cesar's 
acts  with  the  assistance  of  a  council.  What  coun- 
cil did  you  consult  ?  whom  did  you  ever  invite  to 
help  you  ?  what  was  the  first  of  June  that  you 
waited  for  ?  Was  it  that  day  on  which  you,  having 
travelled  all  through  the  colonies  where  the  vet- 
erans were  settled,  returned  escorted  by  a  band  of 
armed  men  ? 

Oh,  what  a  splendid  progress  was  that  of  yours 
in  the  months  of  April  and  May,  when  you  even 
attempted  to  lead  a  colony  to  Capua  !  How  you 
made  your  escape  from  thence,  or  rather  how  you 
barely  made  your  escape,  we  all  know.  And  now 
you  are  still  threatening  that  city.  I  wish  you 
would  try,  and  we  should  not  then  be  forced  to  say 
"barely."  However,  what  a  splendid  progress 
was  that  of  yours !  Why  need  I  mention  your 
preparations  for  banquets,  your  frantically  hard 
drinking  ?  Those  things  are  only  an  injury  to  your- 
self;  these  are  injuries  to  us.  We  thought  that  a 
great  blow  was  inflicted  on  the  Republic  when  the 
Campanian  district  was  released  from  the  payment 


The  Second  Philippic  229 

of  taxes,  in  order  to  be  given  to  the  soldiery  ;  but 
you  have  divided  it  among  your  partners  in  drunken- 
ness and  gambling.  I  tell  you,0  Conscript  Fathers, 
that  a  lot  of  buffoons  and  actresses  have  been 
settled  in  the  district  of  Campania.  Why  should 
I  now  complain  of  what  has  been  done  in  the 
district  of  Leontini  ?  And  yet  these  lands  of 
Campania  and  Leontini  were  formerly  considered 
part  of  the  patrimony  of  the  Roman  people,  and 
were  productive  of  great  revenue  and  very  fertile. 
You  gave  your  physician  three  thousand  acres  ; 
what  would  you  have  done  if  he  had  cured  you  ? 
and  two  thousand  to  your  master  of  oratory ; 
what  would  you  have  done  if  he  had  been  able  to 
make  you  eloquent  ?  However,  let  us  return  to 
your  progress,  and  to  Italy. 

You  led  a  colony  to  Casilinum,  a  place  to  which 
Cassar  had  previously  led  one.  You  did  indeed 
consult  me  by  letter  about  the  colony  of  Capua 
(but  I  should  have  given  you  the  same  answer 
about  Casilinum),  whether  you  could  legally  lead 
a  new  colony  to  a  place  where  there  was  a  colony 
already.  I  said  that  a  new  colony  could  not  be 
legally  conducted  to  an  existing  colony,  which  had 
been  established  with  a  due  observance  of  the 
auspices,  as  long  as  it  remained  in  a  flourishing 
state ;  but  I  wrote  you  word  that  new  colonists 
might  be  enrolled  among  the  old  ones.  But  you, 
elated  and  insolent,  disregarding  all  the  respect  due 


230  Cicero 

to  the  auspices,  led  a  colony  to  Casilinum,  whither 
one  had  been  previously  led  a  few  years  before, 
in  order  to  erect  your  standard  there  and  to  mark 
out  the  line  of  the  new  colony  with  a  plow.  And 
by  that  plow  you  almost  grazed  the  gate  of  Capua, 
so  as  to  diminish  the  territory  of  that  flourishing 
colony.  After  this  violation  of  all  religious  ob- 
servances, you  hasten  off  to  the  estate  of  Marcus 
Varro,  a  most  conscientious  and  upright  man,  at 
Casinum.  By  what  right  ?  with  what  face  do  you 
do  this  ?  By  just  the  same,  you  will  say,  as  that 
by  which  you  entered  on  the  estates  of  the  heirs 
of  Lucius  Rubrius,  or  of  the  heirs  of  Lucius  Tur- 
selius,  or  on  other  innumerable  possessions.  If 
you  got  the  right  from  any  auction,  let  the  auction 
have  all  the  force  to  which  it  is  entitled  ;  let  writ- 
ings be  of  force,  provided  they  are  the  writings  of 
C^sar,  and  not  your  own  ;  writings  by  which  you 
are  bound,  not  those  by  which  you  have  released 
yourself  from  obligation. 

But  who  says  that  the  estate  of  Varro  at  Casinum 
was  ever  sold  at  all  ?  who  ever  saw  any  notice  of 
that  auction  ?  who  ever  heard  the  voice  of  the 
auctioneer  ?  You  say  that  you  sent  a  man  to  Al- 
exandria to  buy  it  of  Cassar.  It  was  too  long  to 
wait  for  C^sar  himself  to  come  !  But  who  ever 
heard  (and  there  was  no  man  about  whose  safety 
more  people  were  anxious)  that  any  part  whatever 
of  Varro's  property  had  been  confiscated  ?    What ! 


The  Second  Philippic  231 

what  shall  we  say  if  Caesar  even  wrote  that  you 
were  to  give  it  up  ?  What  can  be  said  strong 
enough  for  such  enormous  impudence  ?  Remove 
for  a  while  those  swords  which  we  see  around  us. 
You  shall  now  see  that  the  cause  of  Cassar's  auc- 
tions is  one  thing,  and  that  of  your  confidence  and 
rashness  is  another.  For  not  only  shall  the  owner 
drive  you  from  that  estate,  but  any  one  of  his 
friends,  or  neighbors,  or  hereditary  connections, 
and  any  agent,  will  have  the  right  to  do  so. 

But  how  many  days  did  he  spend  revelling  in  the 
most  scandalous  manner  in  that  villa  !  From  the 
third  hour  there  was  one  scene  of  drinking,  gam- 
bling, and  vomiting.  Alas  for  the  unhappy  house 
itself!  to  the  share  of  how  different  a  master  from 
its  former  one  has  it  fallen  !  Although,  how  is  he 
the  master  at  all  ?  but  still  by  how  different  a  per- 
son has  it  been  occupied  !  For  Marcus  Varro  used 
it  as  a  place  of  retirement  for  his  studies,  not  as  a 
theatre  for  his  lusts.  What  noble  discussions  used 
to  take  place  in  that  villa  !  what  ideas  were  origin- 
ated there  !  what  writings  were  composed  there  ! 
The  laws  of  the  Roman  people,  the  memorials  of  our 
ancestors,  the  consideration  of  all  wisdom  and  all 
learning,  were  the  topics  that  used  to  be  dwelt  on 
then; — but  now,  while  you  were  the  intruder  there 
(for  I  will  not  call  you  the  master),  every  place  was 
resounding  with  the  voices  of  drunken  men  ;  the 
pavements  were  floating  with  wine ;  the  walls 


232  Cicero 

were  dripping  ;  nobly  born  boys  were  mixing  with 
the  basest  hirelings ;  prostitutes  with  mothers  of 
families.  Men  came  from  Casinum,  from  Aquinum, 
from  Interamna  to  salute  him.  No  one  was  ad- 
mitted. That,  indeed,  was  proper.  For  the  ordi- 
nary marks  of  respect  were  unsuited  to  the  most 
profligate  of  men.  When,  going  from  thence  to 
Rome  he  approached  Aquinum,  a  numerous  com- 
pany (for  it  is  a  populous  municipality)  came 
out  to  meet  him.  But  he  was  carried  through  the 
town  in  a  covered  litter,  as  if  he  had  been  dead. 
The  people  of  Aquinum  acted  foolishly,  no  doubt ; 
but  still  they  were  in  his  road.  What  did  the  peo- 
ple of  Anagnia  do  ?  who,  although  they  were  out 
of  his  line  of  road,  came  down  to  meet  him,  in  or- 
der to  pay  him  their  respects,  as  if  he  were  consul. 
It  is  an  incredible  thing  to  say,  but  still  it  was  only 
too  notorious  at  the  time,  that  he  returned  nobody's 
salutation  ;  especially  as  he  had  two  men  of  Anag- 
nia with  him,  Mustela  and  Laco ;  one  of  whom 
had  the  care  of  his  swords,  and  the  other  of  his 
drinking-cups. 

Why  should  I  mention  the  threats  and  insults 
with  which  he  inveighed  against  the  people  of 
Teanum  Sidicinum,  with  which  he  harassed  the  men 
of  Puteoli,  because  they  had  adopted  Caius  Cassius 
and  the  Bruti  as  their  patrons  ?  a  choice  dictated, 
in  truth,  by  great  wisdom,  and  by  great  zeal,  be- 
nevolence and  affection  for  them  ;  not  by  violence 


The  Second  Philippic  233 

and  force  of  arms,  by  which  men  have  been  com- 
pelled to  choose  you,  and  Basilus,  and  others  like 
you  both, — men  whom  no  one  would  choose  to 
have  for  his  own  clients,  much  less  to  be  their 
client  himself. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  you  yourself  were 
absent,  what  a  day  was  that  for  your  colleague 
when  he  overturned  that  tomb  in  the  Forum, 
which  you  were  accustomed  to  regard  with  ven- 
eration !  And  when  that  action  was  announced 
to  you,  you — as  is  reported  by  all  who  were  with 
you  at  the  time — fainted  away.  What  happened 
afterward  1  know  not.  I  imagine  that  terror  and 
arms  got  the  mastery.  At  all  events,  you  dragged 
your  colleague  down  from  his  heaven ;  and  you 
rendered  him,  not  even  now  like  yourself,  at  all 
events  very  unlike  his  own  former  self. 

After  that,  what  a  return  was  that  of  yours  to 
Rome !  How  great  was  the  agitation  of  the 
whole  city  !  We  recollected  that  Cinna  had  been 
too  powerful ;  after  him  we  had  seen  Sulla  with 
absolute  authority,  and  we  had  lately  beheld  C^sar 
acting  as  king.  There  were  perhaps  swords,  but 
they  were  sheathed,  and  they  were  not  very 
numerous.  But  how  great  and  how  barbaric  a 
procession  is  yours !  Men  follow  you  in  battle 
array  with  drawn  swords  ;  we  see  whole  litters 
full  of  shields  borne  along.  And  yet  by  custom, 
O  Conscript  Fathers,  we  have  become  inured  and 


234  Cicero 

callous  to  these  things.  When  on  the  first  of 
June  we  wished  to  come  to  the  Senate,  as  it  had 
been  ordained,  we  were  suddenly  frightened  and 
forced  to  flee.  But  he,  as  having  no  need  of  a 
Senate,  did  not  miss  any  of  us,  but  rather  rejoiced 
at  our  departure,  and  immediately  proceeded  to 
those  marvellous  exploits  of  his.  He  who  had 
defended  the  memoranda  of  CiEsar  for  the  sake 
of  his  own  profit,  overturned  the  laws  of  Ciesar — 
and  good  laws  too — for  the  sake  of  being  able  to 
agitate  the  Republic.  He  increased  the  number 
of  years  that  magistrates  were  to  enjoy  their  prov- 
inces ;  moreover,  though  he  was  bound  to  be 
the  defender  of  the  acts  of  C^sar,  he  rescinded 
them  with  reference  to  both  public  and  private 
transactions. 

In  public  transactions  nothing  is  more  author- 
itative than  law  ;  in  private  affairs  the  most  valid 
of  all  deeds  is  a  will.  Of  the  laws,  some  he  abol- 
ished without  giving  the  least  notice ;  others  he 
gave  notice  of  bills  to  abolish.  Wills  he  annulled; 
though  they  have  been  at  all  times  held  sacred 
even  in  the  case  of  the  very  meanest  of  the  citi- 
zens. As  for  the  statues  and  pictures  which 
Caesar  bequeathed  to  the  people,  together  with 
his  gardens,  those  he  carried  away,  some  to  the 
house  which  belonged  to  Pompeius,  and  some 
to  Scipio's  villa. 

And  are  you  then  diligent  in  doing  honor  to 


The  Second  Philippic  235 

Caesar's  memory  ?  Do  you  love  him  even  now 
that  he  is  dead?  What  greater  honor  had  he 
obtained  tlian  that  of  having  a  holy  cushion,  an 
image,  a  temple,  and  a  priest  ?  Even  as  Jupiter, 
and  Mars,  and  Quirinus  have  priests,  so  Marcus 
Antonius  is  the  priest  of  the  god  Julius.  Why 
then  do  you  delay  ?  why  are  you  not  inaugu- 
rated ?  Choose  a  day  ;  select  some  one  to  inau- 
gurate you  ;  we  are  colleagues  ;  no  one  will  refuse. 
O  detestable  man,  are  you  the  priest  of  a  tyrant 
or  of  a  dead  man  ?  1  ask  you  then,  whether  you 
are  ignorant  what  day  this  is  ?  Are  you  ignorant 
that  yesterday  was  the  fourth  day  of  the  Roman 
games  in  the  Circus  ?  and  that  you  yourself  sub- 
mitted a  motion  to  the  people  that  a  fifth  day 
should  be  added  besides,  in  honor  of  Caesar  ? 
Why  are  we  not  all  clad  in  the  prastexta  ?  Why 
are  we  allowing  to  be  disregarded  the  honor  which 
by  your  law  was  appointed  for  C^sar  ?  Had  you 
no  objection  to  the  pollution  of  so  holy  a  day  by 
the  addition  of  supplications,  while  you  did  not 
choose  it  to  be  so  by  the  addition  of  ceremonies 
connected  with  a  sacred  cushion  ?  Either  take 
away  religion  in  every  case,  or  preserve  it  in 
every  case. 

You  will  ask  whether  I  approve  of  his  having  a 
sacred  cushion,  a  temple  and  a  priest  ?  I  approve 
of  none  of  those  things.  But  you,  who  are  defend- 
ing the  acts  of  Cassar,  what  reason  can  you  give 


236  Cicero 

for  defending  some  and  disregarding  others  ?  un- 
less, indeed,  you  choose  to  admit  that  you  measure 
every  thing  by  your  own  gain,  and  not  by  his  dig- 
nity. What  will  you  now  reply  to  these  arguments 
(for  1  am  waiting  to  witness  your  eloquence  ;  I 
knew  your  grandfather,  who  was  a  most  eloquent 
man,  but  1  know  you  to  be  a  more  undisguised 
speaker  than  he  was  ;  he  never  harangued  the  peo- 
ple naked ;  but  we  have  seen  your  breast,  man, 
without  disguise  as  you  are)  ?  Will  you  make 
any  reply  to  these  statements  ?  Will  you  dare  to 
open  your  mouth  at  all  ?  Can  you  find  one  single 
article  in  this  long  speech  of  mine  to  which  you 
trust  that  you  can  make  any  answer  ?  However, 
we  will  say  no  more  of  what  is  past. 

But  this  single  day,  this  very  day  that  now  is, 
this  very  moment  while  1  am  speaking,  defend  your 
conduct  during  this  very  moment,  if  you  can.  Why 
has  the  Senate  been  surrounded  with  a  belt  of  armed 
men  ?  Why  are  your  satellites  listening  to  me 
sword  in  hand  ?  Why  are  not  the  folding-doors 
of  the  Temple  of  Concord  open  ?  Why  do  you 
bring  men,  of  all  nations  the  most  barbarous,  Ity- 
reans,  armed  with  arrows,  into  the  Forum  ?  He 
says  that  he  does  so  as  a  guard.  Is  it  not  then 
a  thousand  times  better  to  perish  than  to  be  unable 
to  live  in  one's  own  city  without  a  guard  of  armed 
men  ?  But  believe  me,  there  is  no  protection  in 
that ; — a  man  must  be  defended  by  the  affection 


The  Second  Philippic  237 

and  good-will  of  his  fellow-citizens,  not  by  arms. 
The  Roman  people  will  take  them  from  you,  will 
wrest  them  from  your  hands  ;  1  wish  that  they  may 
do  so  while  we  are  still  safe.  But  however  you 
treat  us,  as  long  as  you  adopt  those  counsels  it  is 
impossible  for  you,  believe  me,  to  last  long.  In 
truth,  that  wife  of  yours,  who  is  so  far  removed 
from  covetousness,  and  whom  1  mention  without 
intending  any  slight  to  her,  has  been  too  long 
owing  her  third  payment  to  the  State.  The  Roman 
people  has  men  to  whom  it  can  intrust  the  helm  of 
the  State  ;  and  wherever  they  are,  there  is  all  the 
defence  of  the  Republic,  or  rather,  there  is  the  Re- 
public itself;  which  as  yet  has  only  avenged,  but 
has  not  re-established  itself.  Truly  and  surely  has 
the  Republic  most  high-born  youths  ready  to  defend 
it, — though  they  may  for  a  time  keep  in  the  back- 
ground from  a  desire  for  tranquillity,  still  they  can 
be  recalled  by  the  Republic  at  any  time. 

The  name  of  peace  is  sweet,  the  thing  itself  is 
most  salutary.  But  between  peace  and  slavery 
there  is  a  wide  difference.  Peace  is  liberty  in  tran- 
quillity ;  slavery  is  the  worst  of  all  evils, — to  be 
repelled,  if  need  be,  not  only  by  war,  but  even  by 
death.  But  if  those  deliverers  of  ours  have  taken 
themselves  away  out  of  our  sight,  still  they  have 
left  behind  the  example  of  their  conduct.  They 
have  done  what  no  one  else  had  done.  Brutus 
pursued  Tarquinius  with  war,   although  he  was 


238  Cicero 

a  king  when  it  was  lawful  for  a  king  to  exist  in 
Rome.  Spurius  Cassius,  Spurius  Mselius,  and 
Marcus  Manlius  were  all  slain  because  they  were 
suspected  of  aiming  at  regal  power.  These  are 
the  first  men  who  have  ever  ventured  to  attack, 
sword  in  hand,  a  man  who  was  not  aiming  at  regal 
power,  but  actually  reigning.  And  their  action  is 
not  only  of  itself  a  glorious  and  godlike  exploit,  but 
it  is  also  one  put  forth  for  our  imitation  ;  especially 
since  by  it  they  have  acquired  such  glory  as  appears 
hardly  to  be  bounded  by  heaven  itself.  For  al- 
though in  the  very  consciousness  of  a  glorious 
action  there  is  a  certain  reward,  still  1  do  not  con- 
sider the  immortality  of  glory  a  thing  to  be  despised 
by  one  who  is  himself  mortal. 

Recollect  then,  O  Marcus  Antonius,  that  day 
on  which  you  abolished  the  dictatorship.  Set 
before  you  the  joy  of  the  Senate  and  people  of 
Rome  ;  compare  it  with  this  infamous  market  held 
by  you  and  by  your  friends  ;  then  will  you  under- 
stand how  great  is  the  difference  between  praise 
and  profit.  But  in  truth,  just  as  some  people, 
through  some  disease  which  has  blunted  the  senses, 
have  no  perception  of  delicate  flavors  of  food,  so 
men  who  are  lustful,  avaricious,  and  criminal,  have 
no  taste  for  true  glory.  But  if  praise  can  not  allure 
you  to  act  uprightly,  can  not  even  fear  turn  you 
away  from  the  most  shameful  actions  ?  You  are 
not  afraid  of  the  courts  of  justice.    If  it  is  because 


The  Second  Philippic  239 

you  are  innocent,  I  praise  you  ;  if  because  you  trust 
in  your  power  of  overbearing  them  by  violence,  are 
you  ignorant  of  what  that  man  has  to  fear  who  on 
such  an  account  as  that  does  not  fear  the  courts  of 
justice  ? 

But  if  you  are  not  afraid  of  brave  men  and  illus- 
trious citizens,  because  they  are  prevented  from 
attacking  you  by  your  armed  retinue,  still,  believe 
me,  your  own  fellows  will  not  long  endure  you. 
And  what  a  life  it  is,  day  and  night  to  be  fearing 
danger  from  one's  own  people !  Unless,  indeed, 
you  have  men  who  are  bound  to  you  by  greater 
kindnesses  than  some  of  those  men  by  whom  he 
was  slain  were  bound  to  Caesar,  or  unless  there 
are  points  in  which  you  can  be  compared  with  him. 

In  that  man  were  combined  genius,  method, 
memory,  literature,  prudence,  deliberation,  and  in- 
dustry. He  had  performed  exploits  in  war  which, 
though  calamitous  for  the  Republic,  were  never- 
theless mighty  deeds.  Having  for  many  years 
aimed  at  being  a  king,  he  had  with  great  labor  and 
much  personal  danger  accomplished  what  he  in- 
tended. He  had  conciliated  the  ignorant  multitude 
by  presents,  by  monuments,  by  largesses  of  food, 
and  by  banquets  ;  he  had  bound  his  own  party  to 
him  by  rewards,  his  adversaries  by  the  appearances 
cf  clemency.  Why  need  I  say  much  on  such  a 
subject  ?  He  had  already  brought  a  free  city,  partly 
by  fear,  partly  by  patience,  into  a  habit  of  slavery. 


240  Cicero 

With  him  I  can,  indeed,  compare  you  as  to  your 
desire  to  reign  ;  but  in  all  other  respects  you  are  in 
no  degree  to  be  compared  with  him.  But  from  the 
many  evils  which  by  him  have  been,  as  it  were, 
burned  into  the  Republic,  there  is  still  this  good, 
that  the  Roman  people  has  now  learned  how  much 
to  believe  every  one,  to  whom  to  trust  itself,  and 
against  whom  to  guard.  Do  you  never  think  on 
these  things  ?  And  do  you  not  understand  that  it 
is  enough  for  brave  men  to  have  learned  how  noble 
a  thing  it  is  as  to  the  act,  how  grateful  it  is  as 
to  the  benefit  done,  how  glorious  as  to  the  fame 
acquired,  to  slay  a  tyrant?  When  men  could 
not  bear  him,  do  you  think  they  will  bear  you  ? 
Believe  me,  the  time  will  come  when  men  will  race 
with  one  another  to  do  this  deed,  and  when  no  one 
will  wait  for  the  tardy  arrival  of  an  opportunity. 

Consider,  I  beg  you,  Marcus  Antonius,  do  some 
time  or  other  consider  the  Republic  ;  think  of  the 
family  of  which  you  are  born,  not  of  the  men  with 
whom  you  are  living.  Be  reconciled  to  the  Re- 
public. However,  do  you  decide  on  your  own  con- 
duct. As  to  mine,  1  myself  will  declare  what  that 
shall  be.  I  defended  the  Republic  as  a  young  man  ; 
I  will  not  abandon  it  now  that  I  am  old.  1  scorned 
the  sword  of  Catiline  ;  1  will  not  quail  before  yours. 
No,  1  will  rather  cheerfully  expose  my  own  person, 
if  the  liberty  of  the  city  can  be  restored  by  my 
death. 


The  Second  Philippic  241 

May  the  indignation  of  the  Roman  people  at  last 
bring  forth  that  with  which  it  has  been  so  long  in 
labor.  In  truth,  if  twenty  years  ago  in  this  very 
temple  I  asserted  that  death  could  not  come  prema- 
turely upon  a  man  of  consular  rank,  with  how  much 
more  truth  must  I  now  say  the  same  of  an  old  man  ? 
To  me,  indeed,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  death  is  now 
even  desirable,  after  all  the  honors  which  I  have 
gained  and  the  deeds  which  I  have  done.  I  only 
pray  for  these  two  things  :  one,  that  dying  1  may 
leave  the  Roman  people  free.  No  greater  boon 
than  this  can  be  granted  me  by  the  immortal  gods. 
The  other,  that  every  one  may  meet  with  a  fate 
suitable  to  his  deserts  and  conduct  toward  the 
Republic. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 

VOL.  II.— 16. 


M.  FABIUS  QUINTILIANUS 

M.  Fabius  Quintilianus  was  born  in  35  a.d.,  at  Calagarris 
(Calahorra),  in  Spain.  His  youth  was  spent  in  the  study 
of  oratory,  his  middle  life  in  practising  and  teaching  it,  and 
his  old  age  in  preparing  the  most  celebrated  treatise  upon 
oratory  that  has  ever  been  written. 

The  style  of  Quintilian  closely  resembles  that  of  Cicero. 

Two  works  attributed  to  Quintilian  are  extant.  The  first, 
his  great  work  entitled  The  Instiiittes  of  Oratory,  is  undoubt- 
edly authentic.  The  second.  The  Declamations,  may  with 
only  doubtful  propriety  be  attributed  to  him. 

The  best  text  of  his  complete  works  is  that  of  Burmann 
(1720),  while  the  tenth  book  of  the  Institutio  Oratoria  has 
been  edited,  as  a  separate  work,  by  Bonnell,  Krueger,  and 
others.     Various  translations  have  been  made. 


243 


ORATOR,  PHYSICIAN,  PHILOSOPHER 

Quintilian. 

An  orator,  physician,  and  philosopher  contested  for  the  property  of  their 
father,  who,  by  will,  had  left  as  heir  that  one  who  should  prove  himself  the 
most  beneficial  to  mankind.  This  declamation,  attributed  to  Quintilian,  and 
forming  part  of  the  collection  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  declamations 
attributed  to  that  author,  is  given  as  an  illustration  of  the  models  by  which 
the  students  of  oratory  were  instructed.  These  skeleton  declamations  were 
studied  and  possibly  memorized.  Students  used  them  as  a  basis  for  elaboration. 
This  was  practised  under  the  direction  of  a  teacher.  A  few  critics  have  as- 
sumed that  this,  and  some  of  the  other  declamations  in  the  collection  named, 
were  complete,  and  in  form  for  delivery  as  exhibition  or  show  speeches. 

THE  law  and  formula,  as  well  as  every  rule 
of  the  controversy,  depend  upon  the  will 
of  the  father ;  the  import  of  which  is  not  which  of 
our  professions  is  the  most  brilliant,  though  even 
in  this  respect  I  should  conquer,  but  which  is  the 
most  useful  to  the  State. 

The  question  to  be  decided  is,  who  of  us  bene- 
fits all  men.  Grant  that  philosophy  is  a  very 
important  thing ;  it  relates  to  few.  Grant  that 
eloquence  is  a  very  admirable  thing ;  it  does  not 
benefit  more  men  than  it  harms.  Medicine  is 
the  only  thing  of  which  all  men  have  need.     It 

is  clear  that  our  father  had  a  definite  intention  of 

245 


246  Ouintilian 

giving  to  one  of  us  that  portion  which  he  seems 
to  have  left  in  dispute.  Now  medicine  alone 
relates  to  all  men,  and  there  is  nothing  so  neces- 
sary to  the  whole  human  race  as  is  medicine. 

Let  us  compare  it  with  the  other  professions. 
First  1  must  argue  with  my  brother,  the  phi- 
losopher, at  whose  propositions  in  this  day's 
contention  I  cannot  sufficiently  wonder.  For  phi- 
losophy, as  it  seems  to  me,  has  no  more  excellent 
characteristic  than  that  it  is  satisfied  with  moder- 
ate possessions  and  does  not  crave  boundless 
resources ;  for  if  it  had  the  same  desires  as  other 
professions,  I  do  not  see  wherein  its  teachings 
would  be  beneficial.  Nor  does  it  escape  me,  O 
judges,  how  many  things  are  wont  to  be  said 
against  those  who  practise  this  profession,  by 
those  whose  reputation  permits  freedom  of  speech, 
these  saying  that  the  philosophers  are  foolish  and 
idle,  and  are  slaves  to  that  very  ambition  which 
they  especially  denounce.  But  my  contest  is 
against  my  brother ;  therefore  I  will  content  my- 
self with  saying  this  lesser  thing  :  that  philosophy 
is  not  a  necessity  to  men. 

I  believe  that  character  and  merit  are  innate. 
Other  things  may  perchance  be  learned ;  certain 
things  are  to  be  gained  by  experience ;  but  good 
character  depends  upon  the  spirit.  This  can  be 
shown  by  a  variety  of  examples ;  for  it  is  evident 
that  there  have  been  many  noble  men  who  were 


Orator,  Physician,  Philosopher  247 

not  taught  philosophy,  and  that  many  men  de- 
voted to  the  pursuit  of  wisdom  have  reached  the 
last  phases  of  crime  and  worthlessness.  1  do  not 
think  that  the  Fabricii  and  the  Curii  learned  mod- 
eration and  self-control  in  the  schools  of  the 
philosophers,  or  that  the  Decii  there  learned  to 
despise  death.  The  Roman  State  produced  the 
liberators,  the  Bruti  and  the  Camilli,  before  that 
art  had  crept  in  at  all. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  other  side :  who  does 
not  know  that  even  from  the  school  of  Socrates, 
the  fountain  from  which  every  kind  of  philosophy 
is  believed  to  have  flowed,  sprang  tyrants  and 
enemies  to  their  native  land  ?  Therefore,  philoso- 
phy is  not  necessary. 

Moreover,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  by  what 
road,  however  zealously  we  pursue  it,  we  can 
attain  to  wisdom  :  for  if  we  call  all  philosophers 
together,  they  by  no  means  are  agreed  as  to  what 
form  of  philosophy  we  should  learn,  what  teach- 
ings we  should  follow.  They  contend  and  differ 
among  themselves ;  and  this  contest  they  have 
prolonged  throughout  the  ages.  To  some,  the 
highest  good  lies  in  pleasure  ;  some  have  found  it 
in  the  pursuit  of  simple  virtue  ;  some  have  at- 
tempted to  mingle  and  join  these  theories  ;  some 
have  believed  that  a  happy  life  can  be  assured  by 
the  possession  of  those  things  which  cater  to  the 
body  and  mind,  the  things  which  are  external;  some 


248  Quintilian 

delight  in  moderation  in  everything.  See  also  how 
great  has  been  their  dissension  as  to  the  gods. 
Some  believe  that  nothing  happens  without  the  act 
of  Providence  ;  some  hold  that  the  gods  care  only 
for  the  things  which  lie  above  the  stars ;  some 
have  altogether  banished  the  gods ;  some,  while 
they  do  not  go  so  far,  have  said  that  at  least  the 
gods  do  not  care  for  men.  These  philosophers 
encourage  men  to  engage  in  public  affairs ;  those 
believe  that  there  is  nothing  more  perilous  than  to 
engage  in  public  life.  Some  you  may  see  pos- 
sessed by  a  hatred  of  money,  destitute  and  naked, 
seeming  to  invite  misfortunes  ;  others  consider  that 
pleasures,  not  only  of  the  mind,  but  also  of  the 
body,  are  among  the  things  chiefly  to  be  desired. 
Whom  am  I  to  believe  ?  to  whom  am  I  to  attach 
myself?  Whatever  I  may  approve,  there  are  others 
to  deny  ;  moreover,  those  principles  which  are  laid 
down  cannot  be  established.  Therefore  I  claim 
that  philosophy  is  unnecessary  to  men,  because  it 
is  difficult  to  choose  the  right  one. 

It  is  also  plain  that  most  of  the  philosophers  are 
not  appreciated  even  by  one  another.  I  know 
that  there  are  some  who,  although  they  complai- 
santly  and  greedily,  so  to  speak,  claim  for  them- 
selves the  name  of  wise  men,  yet  confess  that  as 
yet  no  one  has  been  found  in  the  records  of  the 
State  who  has  justly  earned  that  title.  Now  to 
say  some   general  things :  what  advantage  has 


Orator,  Physician,  Philosopher  249 

ever  been  gained  from  these  men,  whether  in  war 
or  in  civil  duties  ?  What  can  we  find  in  them  be- 
yond a  deceptive  frown  and  perpetual  idleness  and 
an  authority  born  of  arrogance  ?  But  grant  that 
these  men  are  great,  as  is  claimed.  I  call  them  to 
trial  by  the  formula  and  terms  of  my  father's  will. 
Of  what  advantage  are  they  to  the  State  ?  They 
lop  off  vices  ?  Why,  no  one  here  is  extravagant, 
no  one  covetous  of  money. 

I  have  now  said  enough  about  the  philosopher ; 
let  me  pass  to  the  orator,  who,  as  I  saw,  came  to 
this  trial  with  confidence  in  his  eloquence.  These 
orators  think  that  this  is  very  powerful  in  judicial 
cases  ;  sometimes  they  win  bad  cases  ;  and  indeed, 
if  it  is  expedient  that  justice  prevail,  what  good  is 
found  in  eloquence  ?  What  benefit,  indeed,  does 
it  confer  upon  the  State  ?  All  things  come  finally 
to  this  same  question  :  In  what  have  you  benefited 
the  State  ?  True,  one  man  is  defended  by  your 
advocacy,  but  he  who  is  on  the  opposite  side  is 
injured  ;  you  rescue  the  accused  from  peril,  but 
how  do  I  know  if  you  rescued  an  innocent  man  ? 
Innocence,  it  is  true,  is  of  itself  powerful.  But 
innocent  men  have  been  condemned  through  your 
advocacy  ;  how  do  I  know  whether  it  was  not  the 
fault  of  your  eloquence  ? 

But  why  do  I  speak  only  of  private  persons  ? 
We  know  that  the  conditions  of  States  are  often 
changed  by  the  power  of  oratory.     Consider,  if 


250  Quintilian 

it  please  you,  the  renowned  State  of  Athens,  once 
proudly  ruling  far  and  wide ;  her  powers  were 
diminished  through  the  fault  of  her  orators.  Or,  if 
it  please  you,  consider  the  condition  of  the  Roman 
people.  Did  not  their  most  eloquent  orators  stir 
up  the  most  serious  seditions  and  turbulent  assem- 
blages ?  Did  not  the  famous  Gracchi  undertake 
to  subvert  the  State,  girt  only  with  the  weapons 
of  eloquence  ?  What  good  shall  1  say  that  elo- 
quence has  ever  done  the  State  ?  It  has  certainly 
done  it  much  harm. 

Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  greatest  orators.  Do 
we  not  know  that  the  famous  Demosthenes  was 
slain  by  poison  sucked  from  his  own  pen  ?  Do  we 
not  know  that  Cicero  was  punished  by  exposure 
on  that  very  rostrum  from  which  he  had  so  often 
delighted  his  followers  ? 

I  have  said  enough  ;  for  if  those  with  whom  I 
am  contending  do  not  benefit  the  State,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  1  only  am  left.  Nevertheless,  I  will  say 
something  concerning  medicine  :  not  indeed  for  the 
sake  of  vaunting  myself,  but  of  commending  my 
profession,  of  which  we  have  always  believed  the 
gods  to  be  upholders — either,  as  I  think,  that  men 
might  have  some  aid  and  comfort  in  their  weak- 
ness, or  because  our  ancestors  attributed  so  much 
power  to  this  art  that  they  believed  that  it  could 
hardly  be  discovered  by  human  genius  only,  or 
because  medicine  is  in  itself  sacred.     If  sudden 


Orator,  Physician,  Philosopher  251 

sickness  seizes  any  one  —  may  it  be  far  from  all 
here  ! — does  he  consult  an  orator  ?  Why  should  1 
enumerate  the  number  of  misfortunes  against  which 
the  aid  of  medicine  is  invoked  ?  There  is  that  kind 
of  illness  by  which  the  spirit  is  broken,  and  that 
kind  from  which  the  sight  grows  dim  ;  that  state 
of  body  which  requires  the  art  of  healing  wounds, 
and  that  in  which  weakness  must  be  turned  to 
strength.  Will  you,  O  philosopher,  offer  consola- 
tion in  place  of  medicine  ?  What  class  of  men, 
what  age,  what  sex,  does  not  seek  the  aid  of  its 
relief  ? 

Translated  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


C.  CORNELIUS  TACITUS 

C.  Cornelius  Tacitus  was  born  at  Rome  about  54  or  57  a.d. 
His  parents  were  noble  and  wealthy.  His  youth  was  spent 
in  study,  under  the  most  distinguished  teachers  of  the  cen- 
tury. Among  them  were  Aper  Secundus  and  Quintilian. 
Tacitus  passed  through  the  various  political  offices  and 
reached  the  consular  rank  in  97  a.d.     He  died  about  118  a.d. 

Tacitus  was  gifted  by  nature  with  the  attributes  of  a  suc- 
cessful orator.  By  constant  study  and  practice  he  gained 
the  highest  oratorical  rank,  which  he  shared  with  Pliny 
the  Younger.  He  was  so  celebrated  for  his  judicial  oratory 
that  he  was  chosen  by  the  Senate  to  conduct  the  prosecution 
of  Marius.  He  was  also  distinguished  for  the  effectiveness 
of  his  deliberative  eloquence.  In  the  panegyrical  style,  his 
oration  on  Virginius  Rufas  was  as  celebrated  as  that  of  Pliny 
on  Trajan. 

The  principal  characteristic  of  the  oratorical  style  of  Tacitus 
was  its  peculiar  solemnity.  This  quality  gave  to  his  utter- 
ances a  convincing  power  that  was  unique.  His  words  were 
well  chosen,  his  diction  pleasing. 

Of  all  the  orations  of  Tacitus,  not  one  remains.  In  the 
hope  that  some  idea  of  this  orator's  style  may  be  gained 
from  a  quotation  from  his  works,  short  selections  from  the 
Agricola  are  given. 


253 


CALGACUS  TO  THE  BRITONS 


Tacitus. 

WHEN  I  reflect  on  the  causes  of  the  war  and 
the  circumstances  of  our  situation,  I  feel  a 
strong  persuasion  that  our  united  efforts  on  the 
present  day  will  prove  the  beginning  of  universal 
liberty  to  Britain.  For  we  are  all  undebased  by 
slavery  ;  and  there  is  no  land  behind  us,  nor  does 
even  the  sea  afford  a  refuge,  while  the  Roman 
fleet  hovers  around.  Thus  the  use  of  arms, 
which  is  at  all  times  honorable  to  the  brave,  now 
offers  the  only  safety  even  to  cowards.  In  all  the 
battles  which  yet  have  been  fought,  with  varying 
success,  against  the  Romans,  our  countrymen 
may  be  deemed  to  have  reposed  their  final  hopes 
and  resources  in  us ;  for  we,  the  noblest  sons 
of  Britain,  and  therefore  stationed  in  its  last  re- 
cesses, far  from  the  view  of  servile  shores,  have 
preserved  even  our  eyes  unpolluted  by  the  con- 
tact of  subjection.  We,  at  the  furthest  limits 
both  of  land  and  liberty,  have  been  defended  to 

this  day  by  the  remoteness  of  our  situation  and 

255 


256  Calo^acus 


of  our  fame.  The  extremity  of  Britain  is  now 
disclosed ;  and  whatever  is  unknown  becomes 
an  object  of  magnitude.  But  there  is  no  nation 
beyond  us ;  nothing  but  waves  and  rocks  and 
the  still  more  hostile  Romans,  whose  arrogance 
we  cannot  escape  by  obsequiousness  and  sub- 
mission. These  plunderers  of  the  world,  after 
exhausting  the  land  by  their  devastations,  are 
rifling  the  ocean  :  stimulated  by  avarice,  if  their 
enemy  be  rich,  by  ambition,  if  he  be  poor ;  un- 
satiated  by  the  East  and  by  the  West ;  the  only 
people  who  look  upon  v/ealth  and  poverty  with 
equal  avidity.  To  ravage,  to  slaughter,  to  usurp 
under  false  titles,  this  they  call  empire  ;  and  where 
they  make  a  desert,  they  call  it  peace. 

By  the  appointment  of  nature  our  children  and 
relatives  are  to  us  the  dearest  of  all  things.  These 
are  torn  away  by  levies  to  serve  in  foreign  lands. 
Our  wives  and  sisters,  though  they  should  escape 
the  violation  of  hostile  force,  are  polluted  under 
the  names  of  friendship  and  hospitality.  Our 
estates  and  possessions  are  consumed  in  tributes, 
our  grain  in  contributions.  Even  our  bodies  are 
worn  away,  amidst  stripes  and  insults,  in  clearing 
woods  and  draining  marshes.  Wretches  who  are 
born  to  slavery  are  first  bought  and  afterward 
maintained  by  their  masters  ;  Britain  every  day 
buys,  every  day  feeds,  her  own  servitude.  And 
as  among  domestic  slaves  every  newcomer  serves 


To  the  Britons  257 

for  the  scorn  and  derision  of  his  fellows,  so  in 
this  ancient  household  of  the  world  we,  as  the 
newest  and  vilest,  are  sought  out  to  be  destroyed. 
For  we  have  neither  cultivated  lands,  nor  mines, 
nor  harbors,  which  can  induce  them  to  preserve 
us  for  the  sake  of  our  labor.  The  valor,  too,  and 
the  unsubmitting  spirit  of  subjects  only  render 
them  more  obnoxious  to  their  masters ;  while 
remoteness  and  secrecy  of  situation  itself,  in  pro- 
portion as  it  conduces  to  security,  tends  to  inspire 
suspicion.  Since,  then,  all  hopes  of  mercy  are 
vain,  at  last  take  courage,  both  you  to  whom 
safety,  and  you  to  whom  glory  is  dear.  The 
Trinobantes,  even  under  a  female  leader,  had 
strength  enough  to  burn  a  colony,  to  storm 
camps,  and,  if  success  had  not  damped  their 
vigor,  would  have  been  able  to  entirely  throw 
off  the  yoke ;  and  shall  not  we,  unsmitten,  un- 
subdued, and  struggling  not  for  the  acquisition 
but  for  the  preservation  of  liberty,  show  in  the 
first  onset  what  men  Caledonia  has  reserved  for 
her  defence  ? 

Can  you  imagine  that  the  Romans  are  as  brave 
in  war  as  they  are  licentious  in  peace  ?  Acquiring 
renown  through  our  discords  and  dissensions,  they 
convert  the  errors  of  their  enemies  to  the  glory 
of  their  own  army  :  an  army  compounded  of  the 
most  widely  differing  nations,  which  only  success 
has  held   together  and  which   misfortunes   will 

VOL.  II. — 17. 


25S  Calgacus 

certainly  dissipate.  Unless,  indeed,  you  can  sup- 
pose that  Gauls  and  Germans,  and — 1  blush  to 
say  it ! — even  Britons,  who,  though  they  now 
expend  their  blood  to  establish  a  foreign  do- 
minion, have  been  longer  its  foes  than  its  subjects, 
will  be  retained  by  loyalty  and  affection  !  Terror 
and  dread  alone  are  the  feeble  bonds  of  their 
attachment ;  when  these  are  once  broken,  they 
who  cease  to  fear  will  begin  to  hate.  Every  in- 
citement to  victory  is  on  our  side.  The  Romans 
have  no  wives  to  animate  them,  no  parents  to 
upbraid  their  flight.  Most  of  them  have  either  no 
home,  or  only  a  distant  one.  Few  in  numbers, 
ignorant  of  the  country,  looking  around  in  silent 
horror  upon  woods,  seas,  and  a  heaven  itself  un- 
known to  them,  they  are  delivered  by  the  gods, 
as  it  were  imprisoned  and  bound,  into  our  hands. 
Be  not  terrified  by  an  idle  show,  or  by  the  glitter 
of  silver  and  gold,  which  can  neither  protect  nor 
wound.  In  the  very  ranks  of  the  enemy  we  shall 
find  our  own  bands.  The  Britons  will  acknowl- 
edge their  own  cause.  The  Gauls  will  recollect 
their  former  liberty.  The  rest  of  the  Germans 
will  desert  our  foes,  as  the  Usipii  have  lately 
done.  Nor  is  there  anything  formidable  behind 
them  :  ungarrisoned  forts,  colonies  of  old  men, 
municipal  towns  distempered  and  distracted  be- 
tween unjust  rulers  and  disobedient  subjects. 
Here  is  a  general ;  here,   an  army.    There,  are 


To  the  Britons 


259 


tributes,  mines,  and  all  the  train  of  punishments 
inflicted  on  slaves ;  which  whether  you  are  eter- 
nally to  bear  or  instantly  to  revenge,  this  field  will 
determine.  March  then  to  battle,  and  think  of 
your  ancestors  and  your  posterity. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


AGRICOLA  TO  HIS  SOLDIERS 


Tacitus. 


IT  is  now  the  eighth  year,  my  fellow-soldiers, 
in  which,  under  the  high  auspices  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  you  have  been  conquering  Britain 
through  your  valor  and  perseverance.  In  so 
many  expeditions,  in  so  many  battles,  whether 
you  have  been  required  to  exert  your  courage 
against  the  enemy  or  your  patient  labors  against 
the  nature  of  the  country  itself,  neither  have  I 
been  dissatisfied  with  my  soldiers  nor  you  with 
your  general.  In  this  mutual  confidence  we  have 
proceeded  beyond  the  limits  of  former  command- 
ers and  former  armies,  and  are  now  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  extremity  of  the  island,  not  by 
uncertain  rumor,  but  by  actual  possession  with 
our  arms  and  encampments.  Britain  is  explored 
and  subdued.  How  often  during  a  march,  when 
embarrassed  by  mountains,  bogs,  and  rivers,  have 
I  heard  the  bravest  among  you  exclaim :  ''When 
shall  we  find  the  enemy  ?  when  shall  we  be  led 

to  the  field  of  battle  ?  "    At  length  they  are  un- 

260 


Agricola  to  his  Soldiers  261 

earthed  from  their  retreats  ;  your  desires  and  your 
valor  have  now  free  scope ;  and  every  circum- 
stance is  at  once  propitious  to  the  victor  and 
ruinous  to  the  vanquished.  For  the  greater  our 
glory  in  having  marched  over  vast  tracts  of  land, 
penetrated  forests,  and  crossed  arms  of  the  sea, 
while  advancing  toward  the  foe,  the  greater  will 
be  our  danger  and  difficulty  if  we  should  attempt 
a  retreat.  We  are  inferior  to  our  enemies  in 
knowledge  of  the  country,  and  less  able  to  com- 
mand supplies  of  provisions ;  but  we  have  arms 
in  our  hands,  and  in  these  we  have  everything. 
For  myself,  it  has  long  been  a  principle  that  a 
retreating  general  or  army  is  never  safe.  Not 
only,  then,  are  we  to  reflect  that  death  with  honor 
is  preferable  to  life  with  ignominy,  but  to  remem- 
ber that  security  and  glory  are  seated  in  the  same 
place.  Even  to  fall  in  this  extremest  verge  of 
earth  and  nature  cannot  be  considered  an  inglori- 
ous fate. 

If  unknown  nations  or  unproved  troops  were 
drawn  up  against  you,  I  would  exhort  you  by  the 
examples  of  other  armies.  As  it  is,  remember 
your  own  honors,  question  your  own  eyes.  These 
are  they  who,  last  year,  attacking  by  surprise  a 
single  legion  amid  the  obscurity  of  night,  were  put 
to  flight  by  a  shout ;  the  greatest  runaways  of  all 
the  Britons,  and  therefore  the  longest  survivors. 
As,   when  penetrating  woods  and  thickets,   the 


262  Agricola  to  his  Soldiers 

fiercest  animals  boldly  rush  upon  the  hunters,  while 
the  weak  and  timorous  flee  at  their  mere  shouts, 
so  the  bravest  of  the  Britons  have  long  since  fallen  ; 
the  remaining  number  consists  solely  of  the 
cowardly  and  spiritless,  whom  you  at  length  see 
within  your  reach,  not  because  they  have  stood 
their  ground,  but  because  they  have  been  over- 
taken. Torpid  with  fear,  their  bodies  are  fixed 
and  chained  down  in  yonder  field,  which  will 
speedily  be  to  you  the  scene  of  a  glorious  and 
memorable  victory.  Here  bring  your  toils  and 
services  to  a  conclusion  ;  close  with  one  great 
day  a  struggle  of  fifty  years ;  and  convince  your 
countrymen  that  to  the  army  ought  not  to  be  im- 
puted either  the  protraction  of  the  war  or  the 
causes  of  the  rebellion. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  oj  this  volume. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  AGRICOLA 

Tacitus. 

HAPPY  art  thou,  O  Agricola  !  not  only  in  the 
splendor  of  your  life,  but  in  the  seasonable- 
ness  of  your  death.  With  resignation  and  cheer- 
fulness, according  to  the  testimony  of  those  who 
were  present  in  your  last  moments,  did  you  meet 
your  fate,  as  if  striving  to  the  utmost  of  your  power 
to  make  the  Emperor  appear  guiltless.  But  to  me 
and  your  daughter,  beside  the  anguish  of  losing  a 
parent,  there  is  an  increasing  affliction,  that  it  was 
not  our  lot  to  watch  over  your  sick-bed,  to  support 
you  when  languishing,  and  to  satiate  ourselves 
with  beholding  and  embracing  you.  With  what 
attention  should  we  have  received  your  last  in- 
structions, and  engraven  them  on  our  hearts! 
This  is  our  sorrow  ;  this  is  our  wound  ;  to  us  you 
were  lost  four  years  before  by  a  tedious  absence. 
Everything,  doubtless,  O  best  of  parents!  was 
administered  for  your  comfort  and  honor  while  a 
most  affectionate  wife  sat  beside  you  ;  yet  fewer 

tears  were  shed  upon  your  bier,  and  in  the  last 

263 


264  Tacitus 

light  which  your  eyes  beheld,  something  was  still 
wanting. 

If  there  be  any  habitation  for  the  shades  of  the 
virtuous  ;  if,  as  philosophers  suppose,  exalted  souls 
do  not  perish  with  the  body  ;  may  you  repose  in 
peace,  and  call  us,  your  household,  from  vain  re- 
gret and  womanish  lamentations  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  your  virtues,  which  allow  no  place  for 
mourning  or  complaining !  Let  us  rather  adorn 
your  memory  by  our  admiration,  by  our  short-lived 
praises,  and,  as  far  as  our  natures  will  permit,  by 
an  imitation  of  your  example.  This  is  truly  to 
honor  the  dead  ;  this  is  the  piety  of  every  near  re- 
lation. I  would  also  bid  the  wife  and  daughter  of 
this  great  man  show  their  veneration  of  a  husband's 
and  a  father's  memory  by  cherishing  his  actions 
and  words  in  their  breasts,  and  endeavoring  to  re- 
tain an  idea  of  the  form  and  features  of  his  mind, 
rather  than  of  his  person.  Not  that  I  would  reject 
those  resemblances  of  the  human  figure  which  are 
engraven  in  brass  or  marble  ;  but  as  their  originals 
are  frail  and  perishable,  so  likewise  are  they  :  the 
form  of  the  mind  is  eternal,  and  thou  mayest 
not  retain  it  or  express  it  in  any  foreign  matter, 
or  by  any  art,  but  only  by  thy  manners  and  char- 
acter. Whatever  in  Agricola  was  the  object  of 
our  love,  of  our  admiration,  remains,  and  will  re- 
main in  the  minds  of  men,  transmitted  in  the 
records  of  fame,  through  an  eternity  of  years.     For, 


On  the  Death  of  Agricola 


265 


while  many  great  personages  of  antiquity  will  be 
involved  in  a  common  oblivion  with  the  mean  and 
inglorious,  Agricola  shall  survive,  represented  and 
consigned  to  future  ages. 

Revised  translation  by  the  Editors  of  this  volume. 


C.  PLINIUS  C/ECILIUS  SECUNDUS 

C.  Plinius  Caecilius  Secundus,  usually  called  Pliny  the 
Younger,  was  born  at  Novum  Comum  (Como)  in  6i  a.d. 
His  father,  C.  Csecilius,  died  when  Pliny  was  eight  years 
of  age.  Two  years  later  the  boy  was  adopted  by  his  uncle, 
C.  Plinius  Secundus,  known  as  Pliny  the  Elder,  the  cele- 
brated author  of  the  Historia  Naturalis.  The  youth  showed 
remarkable  talent  at  an  early  age.  His  uncle  sent  him  to 
Rome  and  placed  him  under  the  care  of  the  most  eminent 
teachers,  among  whom  were  Quintilian  and  Nicetes  of  Smyrna. 

Pliny  was  passionately  fond  of  literature  and  oratory.  At 
thirteen  years  of  age  he  composed  a  Greek  tragedy.  At 
twenty  he  had  become  one  of  the  leading  advocates  of  the 
Roman  bar. 

Cicero  was  to  Pliny  the  greatest  orator  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  and  when  the  innovations  of  the  Empire  drove  into  the 
background  the  oratorical  forms  of  the  Republic,  Pliny  became 
their  exponent  and  champion,  and  as  such  he  opposed  Tacitus, 
the  leader  of  the  new  school. 

Pliny  was  gifted  with  wealth,  powerful  friends,  and  great 
personal  merit,  and  because  of  these  he  occupied  many  im- 
portant official  positions,  including  that  of  augur,  consul,  and 
proconsul.  His  closing  years  were  the  most  successful  of  a 
long  and  prosperous  life.     He  died  in  1 13  a.d. 

"  Popular  among  his  equals,  splendid  in  his  political  suc- 
cesses, in  his  vast  wealth,  and  his  friendship  with  the  Emperor, 
Pliny  is  almost  a  perfect  type  of  a  refined  pagan  gentleman." 

Pliny  was  an  orator  of  great  merit.  He  was  a  clear  thinker, 
though,  at  times,  obscure  in  expression.  His  oratory  was 
graceful  and  polished,  and  through  all  his  work  runs  a  delight- 
ful vein  of  optimism.  His  delivery  was  forcible  and  effective, 
and  despite  his  weak  constitution,  he  was  capable  of  sustained 
effort. 

267 


268  C  Plinius  Caecilius  Secundus 

Pliny  is  best  known  by  his  Epistola\  None  of  his  many  and 
brilliant  speeches  remain,  except  the  famous  Panegyric  or 
Trajan.  This  is  the  greatest  of  the  panegyrics  of  the  Empire, 
and  has  long  served  as  a  model  of  oratorical  excellence. 

One  of  the  best  texts  of  Pliny's  works  is  that  of  Schafer, 
Leipsic  (1739-1770),  1805.  The  Panegyric  has  been  trans- 
lated several  times  into  French  and  German.  It  has  been 
rendered  into  English  by  Henley  ;  London,  1686. 


THE    PANEGYRIC    ON   TRAJAN 


[Selection.] 


Pliny  the  Younger. 


This  is  the  most  famous  of  the  Roman  Panegyrics  that  have  been  preserved.  It 
was  delivered  by  Pliny  before  the  Emperor  Trajan  and  the  Senate  at  Rome,  in  the 
first  century  a.d.  The  Panegyric  is  of  such  length  as  to  render  its  insertion  in 
complete  form  unwise.  The  editors  have,  therefore,  selected  the  following 
passages  as  best  illustrating  the  oratorical  style  of  Pliny  the  Younger  : 

WELL  and  wisely,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  did 
our  ancestors  ordain  that  an  oration,  as 
well  as  other  undertakings,  should  begin  with  an 
invocation  to  the  gods  ;  because  nothing  can  be 
duly  or  prudently  begun  without  the  aid,  counsel, 
and  favor  of  the  immortal  gods.  But  in  whom  is 
this  custom  more  fitting  than  in  a  consul,  and 
when  is  it  more  proper  to  adopt  and  practise  it 
than  when,  by  the  command  of  the  Senate  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  State,  we  are  moved  to  render 
thanks  to  our  most  excellent  Prince  ?  For  what 
gift  of  the  gods  is  there  that  is  more  excellent  or 
more  honorable  than  a  Prince  who  is  chaste,  holy, 
and  very  like  the  gods  ?  And  if  hitherto  it  had 
been  doubtful  whether  by  chance  or  by  some 

divine  power  rulers  were  given  to  the  world,  it  is 

269 


270  Pliny  the  Younger 

clear,  nevertheless,  that  our  Prince  was  divinely 
appointed.  For  he  was  not  selected  by  the  secret 
power  of  the  Fates,  but  by  Jupiter  himself,  openly 
and  before  all.  He  was,  in  truth,  chosen  before 
the  very  altars,  and  in  that  place  in  which  that  god 
is  as  manifest  and  present  as  he  is  in  his  seat  in 
heaven  among  the  stars.  Wherefore,  O  Jupiter, 
best  and  greatest,  thou  who  wast  in  times  past  the 
founder  and  to-day  art  the  preserver  of  our  Empire, 
it  is  the  more  suitable  and  reverent  that  1  should 
pray  thee  that  my  discourse  may  be  worthy  of  a 
consul,  worthy  of  the  Senate,  worthy  of  our 
Prince  ;  that  all  I  may  say  may  be  in  accord  with 
liberty,  fidelity,  and  truth  :  and  that  my  expres- 
sion of  thankfulness  may  be  as  free  from  any  ap- 
pearance of  flattery  as  it  is  free  from  compulsion. 

Indeed,  I  think  that  it  is  the  duty  not  only  of  the 
consul  but  of  all  citizens  to  speak  of  the  Prince  in 
such  a  way  that  it  may  not  seem  possible  to  say  of 
any  other  man  that  which  they  may  say  concern- 
ing the  Prince.  Wherefore  let  those  words  which 
a  base  fear  might  extort  be  far  from  us ;  let 
us  say  nothing  as  once  we  were  obliged  to  say  it, 
for  we  suffer  nothing  as  in  times  past  we  suffered  ; 
let  us  not  say  the  same  things  concerning  the  Prince 
which  we  once  said,  for  we  do  not  whisper  in 
private  the  same  things  as  then.  Let  the  difference 
in  the  times  be  marked  by  our  speech,  and  from  the 
difference  in  the  manner  in  which  we  render  thanks 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  271 

let  it  be  clearly  seen  when  and  to  whom  they  are 
given.  Let  us  not  laud  him  either  as  a  god  or  as  a 
divine  power,  for  it  is  not  concerning  a  tyrant  but 
a  citizen,  not  of  a  master  but  a  parent,  that  we 
speak.  He  regards  himself  as  one  of  us,  and  in 
this  he  so  much  the  more  surpasses  and  excels  us, 
and  he  remembers  no  less  that  he  is  a  man  than 
that  he  is  a  commander  of  men.  Let  us,  therefore, 
appreciate  the  good  things  which  have  been  be- 
stowed upon  us  and  show  ourselves  worthy  of 
enjoying  them  ;  and  from  time  to  time  let  us  con- 
sider how  shameful  it  would  be  to  offer  greater 
obedience  to  princes  who  delight  in  the  slavery  of 
their  citizens  than  to  those  princes  who  delight  in 
their  freedom.  And,  indeed,  the  Roman  people 
are  accustomed  to  be  satisfied  with  their  rulers ; 
with  what  great  unanimity  a  short  time  ago  they 
proclaimed  one  beautiful ;  another  very  brave  ;  with 
what  shouts  they  praised  at  one  time  the  voice  and 
bearing  of  one,  and  the  piety,  temperance,  and 
clemency  of  another.  And  what  of  ourselves? 
Are  we  not  all  accustomed  to  extol  the  excellence 
of  our  Prince,  to  praise  his  generosity,  his  self- 
control,  or  his  graciousness  as  we  may  be  moved 
from  time  to  time  by  love  or  joy  ?  Now  what  is 
so  worthy  of  a  citizen  or  so  becoming  a  senator  as 
the  surname  of  Optimus,  which  we  have  given 
him  ?  It  is  a  name  which  the  arrogance  of  princes 
in  times  past  has  made  the  especial  and  appropriate 


272  Pliny  the  Younger 

surname  of  our  Prince.  For  it  is  as  fitting  as  it  is 
just  that  we  should  call  both  him  and  ourselves 
happy,  and  one  after  another  make  our  petitions  to 
him  that  he  may  do  this,  or  that  he  may  hear  that, 
for  we  would  not  make  these  requests  to  him  if  he 
would  not  accede  to  them.  In  response  to  these 
petitions  he  is  suffused  with  tears  and  overcome 
with  modesty,  for  he  knows  and  feels  that  they  are 
made  to  him  and  not  to  the  Prince.  Therefore,  let 
us  each  carefully  hold  in  the  spontaneous  warmth 
of  our  filial  love  that  studied  moderation  which 
we  have  all  maintained  ;  let  us  bear  in  mind  that 
there  is  no  form  of  thanks  more  sincere  and  more 
acceptable  than  that  which  rivals  those  acclama- 
tions which  by  their  spontaneity  are  free  from  all 
deceit.  So  far  as  in  me  lies,  I  will  endeavor  to 
adapt  my  address  to  the  modesty  and  moderation 
of  my  Prince.  And  1  will  at  the  same  time  pay 
more  attention  to  what  his  ears  would  willingly 
endure,  than  to  what  his  virtues  merit.  But  I  do 
not  so  much  fear  that  our  Prince,  to  whose  great 
and  unusual  glory  1  am  about  to  render  thanks, 
will  think  that  1  am  too  sparing  in  my  praises,  as 
that  1  am  excessive.  This  is  the  only  care,  this  the 
only  difficulty  confronting  me ;  for  it  is  easy,  O 
Conscript  Fathers,  to  thank  one  who  merits  thanks. 
There  is  no  danger,  then,  that  when  I  speak  of 
clemency  he  will  believe  that  1  inveigh  against  his 
haughtiness ;  when  of  economy,  that  1  attack  his 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  273 

prodigality  ;  when  of  mildness,  his  cruelty  ;  when 
of  generosity,  his  avarice  ;  when  of  good-will,  his 
malice ;  when  of  self-control,  his  lust ;  when  of 
diligence,  his  sloth  ;  when  of  bravery,  his  coward- 
ice. 1  do  not  even  fear  that  1  may  appear  grateful 
or  ungrateful  according  as  I  shall  say  enough  or 
too  little.  For  1  am  persuaded  that  even  the  gods 
themselves  are  not  so  much  pleased  with  the 
elaborate  prayers  of  their  worshippers  as  with 
innocence  and  purity  ;  and  that  he  is  held  to  be 
the  most  grateful  who  brings  to  their  shrines  a 
pure  and  chaste  mind,  rather  than  he  who  brings 
a  carefully  composed  prayer. 

But  we  must  obey  the  decree  of  the  Senate, 
which  has  ordained  for  the  public  good  that  by 
the  voice  of  the  consul  and  under  the  form  of  a 
solemn  giving  of  thanks,  good  princes  should  be 
shown  what  they  have  done,  and  bad  princes 
what  they  ought  to  have  done.  And  this  is  now 
the  more  obligatory  and  desirable  because  our 
father  [Trajan]  restrains  and  prevents  the  offering 
of  thanks  by  private  individuals.  And,  indeed, 
if  he  were  permitted  to  take  such  action,  he 
would  be  very  apt  to  prevent  the  public  thanks 
which  the  Senate  has  decreed.  Consider  both, 
O  Caesar  Augustus ;  both  what  you  do  not  per- 
mit to  be  rendered  to  you  elsewhere  and  what 
you  permit  to  be  rendered  to  you  here.  For  that 
honor  is  not  rendered  to  you  by  yourself,  but  by 


VOL.  n.— 18 


2  74  Pliny  the  Younger 

others.  You  yield  to  our  affections ;  you  do  not 
laud  to  us  your  kindly  acts,  but  you  must  hear 
them  from  us. 

I  have  often,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  in  silence  and 
alone  considered  what  and  how  great  a  man  he 
ought  to  be  by  whose  sway  and  power  the  seas 
and  the  lands,  peace  and  war,  are  controlled :  but 
while  1  fashioned  in  my  mind  such  a  prince  as 
he  ought  to  be  whose  power  is  equal  to  that 
of  the  immortal  gods,  1  was  never  able  to  con- 
ceive of  one  like  to  him  whom  we  now  see.  One 
has  excelled  in  war,  but  become  valueless  in 
peace ;  another  has  been  adorned  with  the  toga, 
but  not  with  arms  ;  this  one  has  sought  to  acquire 
respect  by  inspiring  terror,  another  has  sought 
love  through  humility ;  one  has  lost  at  home  the 
glory  he  won  abroad,  and  another  has  lost  abroad 
the  glory  he  acquired  at  home.  Finally,  there  has 
hitherto  existed  no  one  whose  virtues  have  not 
been  damaged  by  contact  with  vices.  But  to  the 
lot  of  our  Prince  what  great  concord,  what  great 
harmony  of  all  praises  and  all  glory  have  fallen ! 
Nothing  is  detracted  from  his  severity  by  his  good 
humor ;  nothing  from  his  gravity  by  his  simpli- 
city ;  nothing  from  his  majesty  by  his  clemency. 
His  firmness  of  bearing,  his  lofty  stature,  his 
beauty  and  dignity  of  countenance,  besides  the 
unbent  ripeness  of  his  years,  though  by  the  favor 
of  the  gods  adorned  by  the  signs  of  advancing 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  275 

age,  his  beautiful  hair,  tending  to  increase  the 
majesty  of  his  person,  all  these  far  and  wide  pro- 
claim the  Prince. 

It  was  necessary  that  he  should  be  such  as 
neither  civil  wars  nor  the  State  overwhelmed  with 
arms  would  have  given,  but  rather  such  an  one  as 
peace  and  adoption  and  the  divinities  implored  by 
the  whole  world  would  have  bestowed.  Would 
it  have  been  right  that  there  should  have  been  no 
difference  between  an  emperor  chosen  by  men 
and  an  emperor  chosen  by  the  gods  ?  Their  judg- 
ment and  favor  for  you  was  manifest  when  you 
set  out  for  the  army,  O  C^sar  Augustus,  and  they 
made  it  known  in  an  unusual  way.  In  the  case 
of  other  princes,  either  a  great  flow  of  blood  from 
the  sacrificial  victims  or  the  flight  of  birds  have 
made  known  their  favor  to  those  who  were  consult- 
ing the  omens.  But  in  your  case  the  shouts  of  the 
citizens,  who  by  no  means  intended  it,  saluted 
you  already  as  Prince  when,  according  to  custom, 
you  were  ascending  the  Capitol.  For  the  whole 
crowd  thronging  the  entrance  of  the  Temple, 
which  had  been  opened  for  your  entrance,  sa- 
luted, as  they  thought,  the  god  as  Imperator,  but, 
as  the  event  proved,  greeted  you  as  Imperator. 
Not  otherwise  was  the  omen  accepted  by  all. 
You  alone  were  not  willing  to  understand  it  in 
this  way,  for  you  refused  the  sovereignty,  but 
your  refusal  was  an  indication  of  your  fitness  for 


276  Pliny  the  Younger 

the  regal  rank,  and  therefore  you  were  compelled 
to  rule.  But  it  was  not  possible  for  anything  to 
compel  you  to  do  this  except  the  peril  of  your 
country  and  the  threatening  overthrow  of  the 
State.  For  you  persisted  in  your  refusal  to  as- 
sume the  sovereignty  unless  it  were  necessary 
to  save  the  State.  It  was  on  this  account,  1  think, 
that  the  frenzy  and  insurrection  of  the  guards  took 
place,  because  it  was  necessary  that  your  modesty 
be  overcome  by  great  violence  and  by  great  and 
widespread  terror.  And  just  as  the  whirlwinds  and 
the  storm  set  off  to  advantage  the  tranquillity  of  the 
sea  and  sky,  so  I  can  believe  that  that  mutiny  took 
place  at  the  time  of  your  accession  in  order  to  aug- 
ment the  favor  of  your  peaceful  reign.  It  is  the  lot 
of  mortals  that  adversity  springs  from  prosperity 
and  prosperity  from  adversity,  and  the  god  con- 
ceals the  seeds  of  both,  and  very  often  it  happens 
that  the  causes  of  good  and  evil  lie  hidden  each 
under  the  opposite  form. 

That  great  dishonor  was  inflicted  upon  this  age, 
that  great  wound  was  given  the  State ;  the  Em- 
peror and  Father  of  the  human  race  was  besieged, 
captured,  confined  ;  the  ability  to  save  the  men 
was  taken  away  from  that  mildest  of  old  men. 
That  which  is  the  most  august  characteristic  of 
princely  power,  that  he  can  in  no  respect  be  com- 
pelled to  do  anything,  was  taken  away  from  the 
prince.     If  indeed  this  were  the  only  reason  that 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  277 

brought  you  to  the  helm  of  public  safety,  I  would 
have  been  inclined  to  exclaim  that  it  was  enough. 
The  discipline  of  the  camp  had  been  destroyed, 
that  you  might  appear  as  a  corrector  and  reformer. 
The  worst  example  was  set,  that  the  best  might 
be  opposed  to  it.  Finally,  the  Emperor  was  com- 
pelled to  put  to  death  those  whom  he  was  loath 
to  execute,  that  he  might  give  us  a  prince  who 
could  not  be  compelled  to  do  what  he  was  un- 
willing to  do. 

For  a  long  time  you  had  deserved  to  be  chosen, 
but  if  you  had  been  chosen  before  we  should  not 
have  known  how  much  the  imperial  authority 
owed  to  you.  The  time  was  to  come  when  it 
would  be  clear  that  you  had  not  so  much  received 
a  favor  as  bestowed  one.  The  territled  State  took 
refuge  in  your  bosom,  and  the  sovereign  power, 
at  the  point  of  being  overthrown,  was  conferred 
upon  you  as  emperor  by  the  voice  of  an  emperor. 
You  were  implored  and  summoned  by  adoption, 
as  in  times  past  mighty  generals  were  often  sum- 
moned to  come  even  from  foreign  and  distant 
wars  to  the  assistance  of  their  fatherland.  In  this 
way  son  and  parent  at  one  and  the  same  time 
mutually  conferred  the  greatest  benefits  ;  he  gave 
to  you  the  imperial  authority  and  you  restored 
it  to  him  who  gave  it.  You  alone  therefore  have 
made  a  fit  return  for  so  great  a  gift,  and  have  even 
put  the  giver  under  lasting  obligations  to  you  ;  for 


278  Pliny  the  Younger 

by  sharing  the  imperial  authority  you  became  the 
more  careful  for  its  preservation  and  he  more  secure 
in  its  possession. 

O  novel  and  unheard-of  entrance  upon  princely 
power !  It  was  not  your  desire  for  the  position 
nor  your  fear  that  made  you  Prince,  but  the  ad- 
vantage of  others  and  their  fear.  You  seem  indeed 
to  have  attained  the  highest  position  among  men, 
but  that  position  which  you  have  left  was  the 
more  filled  with  happiness,  for  you  ceased  to  be  a 
private  citizen  under  a  good  prince.  You  have 
been  given  a  share  of  the  toils  and  cares,  and  not 
the  advantages  and  joys  of  that  station.  But  it 
was  its  hardships  and  burdens  that  impelled  you 
to  assume  it.  You  have  assumed  the  imperial 
authority  after  another  was  wearied  with  bearing 
it.  You  had  no  relationship  to  him  who  adopted 
you.  There  was  no  kinship  except  that  each  was 
most  noble  of  men,  and  the  one  was  worthy  to 
be  chosen  and  the  other  was  worthy  to  choose. 
Therefore  you  were  adopted,  not  as  others  before 
you  were  adopted,  merely  to  please  a  wife.  For 
not  a  step-father  but  a  prince  received  you  as  a 
son,  and  the  divine  Nerva  became  your  father  in 
the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  he  was  the  father 
of  all.  And  it  is  not  becoming  that  a  son  should 
be  received  otherwise,  if  he  is  to  be  received  by  a 
prince.  If  you  were  about  to  transmit  to  another 
the  Senate,  the  Roman  people,  the  armies,  the 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  279 

provinces,  and  the  allies,  would  you  receive  your 
successor  only  from  the  arms  of  your  wife  ? 
Would  you  look  only  within  your  own  house  and 
family  for  the  heir  of  the  greatest  power  ?  Would 
you  not  turn  your  eyes  on  every  side  throughout 
the  State  ?  Would  you  not  consider  him  to  be 
the  nearest  of  kin  and  most  closely  connected  with 
you  whom  you  regarded  as  the  best  and  whom 
you  found  to  be  most  like  the  gods  ?  One  who  is 
to  govern  all  must  be  selected  from  all.  You  were 
not  about  to  give,  O  Emperor,  a  master  to  your 
slaves  that  he  might  be  compared  to  an  heir  by 
blood,  but  you  were  to  give  a  prince  to  your  citizens. 
It  would  have  been  a  haughty  and  arbitrary  act  if 
you  had  not  adopted  him  who  was  about  to  enjoy 
the  imperial  authority  even  if  he  had  not  been 
adopted.  This  Nerva  did,  thinking  that  it  made 
no  difference  whether  you  were  his  successor  by 
birth  or  choice,  for  the  child  might  be  equally  well 
chosen  as  well  born  ;  except  that  men  bear  more 
willingly  with  one  whom  the  prince  has  happily, 
than  with  one  whom  he  has  unfortunately,  chosen. 
Therefore  he  sought  most  carefully  to  avoid  any 
such  misfortune,  and  took  counsel  not  merely  with 
men,  but  with  the  gods  as  well.  And  for  this 
cause  your  adoption  was  accomplished  not  in  the 
privacy  of  the  Emperor's  apartments,  but  in  the 
Temple  ;  not  before  the  nuptial  couch,  but  before 
the  seat  of  Jupiter  Optimus.     By  this  act,  not  our 


2So  Pliny  the  Younger 

servitude,  but  our  liberty,  prosperity,  and  security 
were  placed  upon  a  firm  foundation.  The  gods 
claimed  that  glory  for  themselves  ;  this  was  their 
work,  this  their  act  of  sovereignty.  Nerva  was 
merely  their  servant,  as  all  are,  he  who  adopted  as 
much  as  he  who  conceived  and  you  who  were 
adopted.  A  laurel  wreath  had  been  brought  from 
Pannonia,  for  the  gods  had  determined  that  the 
sign  of  victory  should  mark  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  an  invincible  emperor.  The  Emperor 
Nerva  had  placed  this  crown  in  the  lap  of  Jupiter : 
then,  suddenly,  greater  and  more  august  than 
usual,  having  summoned  an  assembly  of  gods  and 
men,  he  took  you  to  himself  as  his  son,  the  sole 
supporter  of  his  exhausted  affairs.  Then,  as  if  he 
had  quite  laid  aside  the  imperial  power,  in  what 
freedom  from  care,  in  what  glory  did  he  delight ! 
For  how  little  is  the  difference  between  laying 
down  and  dividing  the  imperial  power,  except 
that  the  latter  is  more  difficult  than  the  former. 
Just  as  if  he  were  leaning  upon  you  and  sustain- 
ing himself  and  his  country  upon  his  shoulders,  he 
became  strong  by  your  youth  fulness  and  strength. 
At  once  all  tumult  ceased.  That  was  not  the  work 
of  adoption,  but  of  him  who  had  been  adopted. 
How  rashly  Nerva  would  have  acted  if  he  had 
chosen  any  other  person !  Are  we  forgetful  that 
soon  after  your  adoption  insurrection  did  not  cease, 
but  began  ?    That  act  of  adoption  would  have  been 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  281 

an  incentive  and  a  firebrand  of  insurrection,  unless 
it  had  happened  to  you.  Is  there  any  doubt  that 
the  Emperor  could  give  the  imperial  authority, 
although  he  had  lost  the  respect  which  belonged 
to  him  to  w^hom  that  authority  had  been  given  ? 
You  became  at  once  a  son  and  a  Caesar,  presently 
an  emperor  and  a  sharer  in  the  power  of  the  tribu- 
nate. You  were  endowed  equally  and  at  the  same 
time  with  all  the  privileges  and  prerogatives  which 
but  a  short  time  before  a  real  father  [Vespasian] 
conferred  upon  his  second  son  [Titus]. 

This  is  a  great  evidence  of  your  moderation,  that 
you  became  not  only  heir  to  the  throne,  but  an 
associate  and  a  companion  as  well.  For  one  may 
well  be  regarded  as  an  heir  even  against  his  will, 
but  not  a  companion  unless  he  is  willing.  Shall 
posterity  believe  that  a  man  who  was  the  son  of  a 
patrician,  and  a  consul  who  had  indeed  enjoyed  a 
triumph,  for  he  had  commanded  an  army  that  was 
brave,  numerous,  and  devoted  to  him,  was  not 
confirmed  as  Emperor  by  that  army  ?  Can  it  be- 
lieve that  the  name  Germanicus  was  not  bestowed 
upon  him  when  he  was  in  command  of  the  armies 
in  Germany  ?  that  that  army  did  nothing  that  he 
should  become  Emperor  ?  that  it  had  done  nothing 
except  what  he  had  deserved  and  merited  ?  For 
you  obeyed,  O  C^sar,  and  came  to  the  throne 
submissively,  and  nothing  did  you  ever  do  with 
more  obedient  mind  than  to  begin  to  reign.    You 


282  Pliny  the  Younger 

became  C^sar,  then  Emperor,  then  Germanicus, 
although  you  were  absent  and  knew  nothing  of  it, 
and  were  still  a  private  citizen,  even  after  the  be- 
stowal upon  you  of  all  your  titles  of  distinction. 
It  would  seem  a  wonderful  thing  if  I  should  say 
that  you  did  not  know  that  you  were  to  be  Em- 
peror, but  as  a  fact  you  were  Emperor  and  you 
were  not  aware  that  you  were  Emperor.  So  that 
when  the  messenger  brought  you  the  news  of 
your  advancement,  you  would  rather  have  re- 
mained what  you  were,  but  you  were  not  at 
liberty  to  do  so.  Were  you  not  obliged  as  a  citi- 
zen to  obey  your  Prince ;  as  a  lieutenant,  your 
Emperor ;  as  a  son,  your  father  ? 

If  you  had  not  obeyed,  where  would  have  been 
discipline  ?  where  the  custom,  handed  down  from 
the  fathers,  of  readily  and  cheerfully  undertaking 
whatever  duty  the  Emperor  imposed  ?  For  how 
if  he  had  committed  to  you  one  province  after 
another,  or  one  war  after  another  ?  He  exercises 
the  same  right  when  he  calls  you  to  the  throne 
that  he  does  when  he  sends  you  to  the  army  ;  and 
it  makes  no  difference  whether  he  orders  you  to 
go  as  a  lieutenant  or  to  return  as  a  prince,  except 
that  there  is  greater  glory  in  obeying  in  those 
matters  which  are  the  most  distasteful.  By  your 
act  the  authority  of  the  Emperor,  which  had  been 
strained  to  the  utmost,  was  increased,  because 
you  thought  that  it  was  all  the  more  necessary 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  283 

that  he  be  obeyed  by  you  when  he  was  so  rarely 
and  poorly  obeyed  by  others.  You  listened,  fur- 
thermore, to  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  Senate 
and  the  people.  That  act  of  adoption  was  not  the 
act  of  Nerva  alone.  It  was  an  unanimous  election. 
For  all  men  everywhere  most  earnestly  desired 
the  same  thing.  Nerva  was  merely  the  first  to 
exercise  his  right,  in  that  he  was  Prince ;  and  he 
was  the  first  to  do  what  all  were  about  to  do. 
By  Hercules,  this  act  would  not  have  so  greatly 
pleased  all,  if  it  had  not  seemed  good  to  them  be- 
fore it  was  accomplished.  But  with  what  modera- 
tion, O  good  gods,  did  you  direct  your  power  and 
fortune !  You  were  an  Emperor  in  inscriptions 
and  busts  and  statues,  but  in  modesty,  toil,  and 
watchfulness  a  commander,  a  lieutenant,  a  soldier. 
As  you  marched  with  stately  tread  before  your 
standards  and  your  eagles,  you  claimed  for  your- 
self nothing  more  from  that  adoption  than  the 
right  to  love  as  a  son  and  to  obey  as  a  son  ;  and 
you  invoked  for  that  name  of  son  long  endurance 
and  long-continued  glory.  The  providence  of  the 
gods  had  brought  you  forward  to  the  chief  place, 
but  you  still  desired  to  remain  in  the  second  place 
and  to  grow  old  in  that  place.  You  appeared  to 
yourself  to  be  a  private  citizen  so  long  as  another 
was  Emperor.  Your  prayers  were  heard;  but  how 
proper  that  that  most  excellent  and  holy  old  man, 
whom  the  <j^ods  were  about  to  claim  for  heaven, 


284  Pliny  the  Younger 

should  after  that  divine  and  immortal  act  have 
done  no  other  mortal  deed.  Reverence  is  due  to 
this  act,  at  once  the  greatest  and  the  last  ;  and  its 
author  is  at  once  to  be  deified  in  order  that  future 
generations  may  ask  whether  this  were  the  work 
of  a  god.  And  so  he  was  the  parent  of  the  State 
in  the  same  way  that  he  was  yours.  Great  was 
his  glory,  great  his  fame  when  he  had  completely 
discovered  how  well  the  Empire  rested  upon  your 
shoulders,  and  he  left  the  earth  to  you  and  you  to 
the  earth.  He  was  for  this  reason  dear  to  all  and 
his  absence  to  be  the  more  regretted,  because  he 
provided  that  he  should  not  be  missed.  At  first 
you  honored  him  with  your  tears  as  became  a  son, 
and  after  that  you  erected  temples  to  his  memory, 
but  in  this  you  did  not  imitate  those  who  had 
done  the  same  thing  with  a  very  different  motive. 
Tiberius  deified  Augustus  that  he  might  add  greater 
reverence  to  the  imperial  majesty  ;  Nero  deified 
Claudius,  but  it  was  to  throw  ridicule  upon  him. 
Titus  deified  Vespasian,  and  Domitian  deified 
Titus,  the  former  that  he  might  seem  the  son  of  a 
god,  the  latter  that  he  might  seem  the  brother  of 
a  god.  You,  however,  placed  your  father  among 
the  gods  neither  to  inspire  fear  in  the  minds  of  the 
citizens,  nor  to  insult  the  gods,  nor  for  your  own 
glory,  but  because  you  believed  that  he  was  a 
god.  Less  glorious  is  this  act,  however,  when  it 
is  performed  by  those  who  think  that  they,  too, 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  285 

are  gods.  But  although  you  worship  him  at  the 
altars  and  shrines  and  with  a  priesthood,  yet  you 
do  not  make  and  prove  him  to  be  a  god  in  any 
other  way  more  clearly  than  by  yourself  being  a 
god.  For  it  is  the  one  sure  proof  of  divinity  in  a 
prince  that  when  he  has  yielded  to  fate  he  should 
have  left  a  divine  successor.  Did  any  arrogance, 
then,  come  to  you  from  the  immortality  of  your 
father  ?  Should  you  rival  those  men  of  later  times 
who  are  indolent  and  haughty  because  their  fathers 
were  divinities  rather  than  emulate  those  men  of 
ancient  times  who  were  more  noble  ? 

[The  Dacians  and  the  Sarmatians]  had  become 
very  bold  and  had  thrown  off  the  yoke,  and  but  a 
short  time  ago  they  were  fighting  with  us,  not  to 
gain  their  liberty,  but  to  bring  about  our  servitude. 
They  were  unwilling  to  enter  into  any  truce,  except 
on  the  most  favorable  terms.  They  even  prescribed 
the  conditions  they  would  accept.  But  now  all  is 
changed  ;  terror  and  fear  and  a  desire  to  execute 
our  commands  have  taken  possession  of  them. 
For  they  see  a  Roman  commander,  one  of  the 
ancient  sort,  to  whom  the  plains  covered  with  dead 
and  the  seas  stained  with  the  blood  of  victory 
brought  the  imperial  name.  We  therefore  receive 
hostages,  and  do  not  buy  them,  and  we  do  not 
purchase  peace  with  great  losses  and  boundless 
gifts  that  thereby  we  may  seem  to  have  conquered. 
They  ask,  they  entreat ;  we  bestow  or  we  refuse, 


286  Pliny  the  Younger 

and  in  each  event  exhibit  the  majesty  of  the  Empire. 
They  who  have  obtained  their  requests  render 
thanks ;  they  who  have  been  refused  dare  not 
complain.  Dared  they  complain  even  when  they 
knew  that  you  were  encamped  against  the  fiercest 
tribes  who  were  at  that  time  most  friendly  to  them 
and  most  dangerous  to  us ;  when  the  Danube 
joined  together  its  banks  by  the  cold,  and  when, 
frozen  solid,  it  bore  on  its  surface  vast  armies ;  when 
the  wild  tribes  were  protected  not  more  by  their 
weapons  than  by  their  skies  and  their  climate  ? 
But  when  you  approached  the  enemy,  they  hid 
themselves  just  as  if  there  had  been  a  change  in 
the  conditions  that  were  so  favorable  to  them,  and 
they  kept  themselves  out  of  sight  in  their  hiding- 
places  ;  but  our  armies  delighted  to  roam  to  and 
fro  on  the  banks  of  the  river  and,  with  your  per- 
mission, to  use  against  the  barbarians  those  very 
advantages  of  climate  that  were  most  favorable  to 
them. 

Such  is  the  respect  you  enjoy  among  the  enemy. 
What  then  is  it  among  your  soldiers?  What 
admiration  have  you  received  from  them  !  for  with 
you  they  bear  hunger  and  thirst,  and  in  the  exer- 
cises of  the  field  you  share  with  the  soldiers  the 
dust  and  sweat,  differing  in  nothing  from  them  in 
the  free  exercise  and  contests  except  in  strength 
and  nobility,  as  you  at  one  moment  hurl  weapons 
and  at  the  next  catch  up  those  that  have  been 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  287 

hurled,  rejoicing  in  the  valor  of  the  soldiers  and 
exulting  whenever  an  unusually  heavy  blow  falls 
upon  your  own  helmet  or  shield.  You  even  praised 
them  when  they  aimed  their  blows  at  you,  and  en- 
couraged them  to  still  greater  efforts.  As  a  spectator 
and  director  of  the  men  who  were  entering  the 
contests,  you  regulated  their  arms,  you  tested  their 
weapons,  and  if  any  piece  seemed  too  heavy  for 
the  man  who  had  received  it,  you  yourself  hurled 
it.  What  consolation  did  you  bear  to  the  weary, 
what  assistance  to  the  sick  !  It  was  not  your  habit 
to  enter  your  own  tent  until  you  had  carefully 
examined  the  tents  of  your  fellow-soldiers,  nor  to 
give  your  body  repose  until  the  others  had  gone  to 
rest.  I  have  not  passed  over,  O  Conscript  Fathers, 
the  consulship  of  our  Prince,  but  I  have  transferred 
to  that  topic  whatever  was  to  be  said  concerning 
his  obligation.  For  we  ought  not  to  divide,  scat- 
ter, and  discuss  at  different  times  the  same  sort 
of  praise  as  if  it  were  a  profitless  and  uninteresting 
subject.  The  first  day  of  your  consulship  had 
just  begun  to  dawn  when,  having  entered  the 
Senate  House,  you  exhorted  us  individually  as  well 
as  collectively  to  take  once  more  our  liberty,  to 
undertake  the  cares  of  the  Empire  as  if  it  were  a 
common  duty  to  be  watchful  for  the  public  good, 
and  to  renew  our  courage.  All  the  princes  who 
preceded  you  had  said  these  things,  but  no  one 
before  you  was  believed.    There  were  before  men's 


288  Pliny  the  Younger 

eyes  the  shipwreck  of  many  whom  an  unexpected 
tornado  had  destroyed  after  they  had  been  carried 
along  by  a  treacherous  calm.  For  what  sea  was 
ever  more  treacherous  than  the  blandishments  of 
those  princes  whose  frivolity  and  deceit  were  so 
great  that  it  was  easier  for  them  to  be  angered  than 
to  be  propitiated  ?  Without  anxiety,  with  joy,  we 
follow  you  wherever  you  may  call.  You  command 
us  to  be  free  ;  we  will  be.  You  command  us  to 
express  whatever  we  may  think ;  we  do  so. 
Hitherto  we  had  refrained  from  expressing  our 
sentiment,  but  not  from  any  cowardice  or  natural 
indifference ;  but  terror,  and  that  wretched  pru- 
dence that  is  born  of  danger,  warned  us  to  turn  our 
eyes  away  from  the  State  (for  there  was  in  reality 
no  State).  But  now,  relying  upon  your  friendship 
and  encouraged  by  your  promises,  we  open  our 
mouths,  so  long  closed  in  a  lasting  slavery,  and  we 
loosen  our  tongues,  so  long  bridled  by  many  ills. 
For  you  wish  us  to  be  as  you  have  commanded,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  your  exhortation  that  is  dis- 
sembled, nothing  that  is  deceitful,  in  short  nothing 
that  might  deceive  confiding  men  which  would  not 
be  dangerous  to  the  deceiver  as  well.  For  a  prince 
is  never  deceived  unless,  by  deceiving,  he  himself 
has  first  set  the  example. 

1  seem,  indeed,  to  have  comprehended  this  feel- 
ing of  the  Father  of  the  State,  not  only  from  his 
words,  but  also  from  his  very  accent.     For  what 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  289 

dignity  is  in  his  sentiments !  What  unaffected 
sincerity  is  in  his  words  !  What  earnestness  is 
in  his  voice !  What  assurance  is  in  his  counte- 
nance, his  eyes,  his  manner,  his  gestures,  in  short 
his  whole  person !  Therefore  he  will  always 
hold  firmly  to  his  advice,  and  he  will  know 
that  we  are  always  obedient  to  him  when  we 
enjoy  the  freedom  he  has  given  us.  Nor  have 
we  any  reason  to  fear  that  he  will  think  us  un- 
mindful of  our  duty,  when  we  use  faithfully  the 
freedom  of  these  times,  when  he  remembers  that 
we  lived  otherwise  under  a  bad  ruler.  We  are 
accustomed  to  offer  prayers  for  the  eternity  of  the 
Empire  and  for  the  welfare  of  our  princes ;  or 
rather,  for  the  welfare  of  the  princes,  and  on  their 
behalf  for  the  eternity  of  the  Empire.  It  is  worth 
while,  indeed,  to  observe  carefully  in  what  words 
those  prayers  for  our  Empire  are  expressed.  Thus 
we  say  :  ''That  you  may  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
State  wisely  and  for  the  best  interests  of  all." 
Such  prayers  are  worthy  of  being  offered,  such 
vows  worthy  of  being  paid.  The  State,  O  Cassar, 
by  your  advice  pleaded  with  the  gods,  that  they 
may  afford  you  favor  and  protection  if  you  pro- 
tect others ;  but  if  not,  that  they  may  turn  their 
eyes  from  watching  over  your  person,  and  abandon 
you  to  secret  imprecations.  Some  have  wished 
to  outlive  the  State,  and  grieve  that  they  have 
been   unable  to  accomplish  it,  but  to  you  your 

VOL.    II.— 19. 


290  Pliny  the  Younger 

own  welfare  is  hateful  if  it  is  not  connected  with 
the  safety  of  the  State.  You  suffer  no  wish  to 
be  entertained  for  you  that  is  not  for  the  advan- 
tage of  those  who  entertain  it.  In  all  your  life 
you  take  the  gods  into  counsel  concerning  your 
affairs;  and  you  desire  that  they  may  change 
their  opinion  of  you  if  ever  you  cease  to  be  what 
you  were  when  you  were  chosen  Emperor.  And 
with  what  great  conscientiousness  have  you  en- 
tered into  a  compact  with  the  gods  that  they 
may  protect  you  if  you  deserve  their  protection, 
since  you  know  that  none  know  better  than  the 
gods  whether  you  are  deserving.  Does  it  not 
always  seem  to  you,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  that 
C^sar  has  this  thought  before  his  mind  night  and 
day  :  ''  I  have  armed  against  me,  if  the  public  good 
demands  it,  the  Prastorian  Guards ;  1  do  not  pray 
even  to  be  delivered  from  the  wrath  of  the  gods 
or  from  their  neglect ;  I  even  ask  and  beg  that  the 
State  may  never  against  its  will  offer  any  prayers 
in  my  behalf ;  but  if  it  should,  that  they  may  not 
be  answered." 

Therefore,  O  C^sar,  you  receive  from  the  ap- 
proval of  the  gods  the  most  glorious  fruit  of  your 
security.  For  since  you  make  the  condition  that 
they  may  preserve  you  only  so  long  as  you  direct 
the  affairs  of  the  State  wisely,  you  are  certain  that 
you  do  direct  the  affairs  of  the  State  well,  for  they 
continue  to  protect  you.    Therefore  free  from  care 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  291 

and  full  of  joy  that  day  passed  in  which  other 
princes  were  distracted  with  cares,  anxiety,  and 
fear ;  for  they  waited  in  suspense  and  alarm  and 
heard,  with  little  confidence  in  our  submission, 
the  messengers  who  reported  the  submission  of 
the  people  on  every  side.  If  perchance  any  mes- 
sengers were  hindered  by  rivers,  snows,  or  winds, 
they  at  once  believed  that  what  they  had  de- 
served had  occurred.  Nor  was  there  any  reason 
in  their  fear,  but  a  bad  prince  fears  any  one 
worthier  than  himself,  and  if  there  is  no  one  who 
is  not  worthier  he  fears  all.  Neither  the  delay  of 
messengers  nor  the  slowness  of  letters  disturbed 
your  sense  of  security.  You  know  that  every- 
where the  oath  of  allegiance  is  being  taken  to  you 
because  you  have  taken  the  oath  to  all.  In  this 
respect  one  does  not  surpass  the  other.  We  in- 
deed love  you  as  you  deserve,  yet  we  do  not  love 
you  merely  for  your  own  sake  but  for  our  own  as 
well.  No  day  dawns  when  we,  prompted  not 
merely  by  our  interest  but  also  by  our  fidelity,  do 
not  offer  prayers  on  your  behalf.  Base  is  the 
guardianship  of  a  prince  against  whose  fidelity 
anything  can  be  charged.  We  may  justly  com- 
plain that  princes  do  not  inquire  into  our  secrets 
unless  we  hate  them.  For  if  good  princes  had  the 
same  care  as  the  bad,  what  admiration,  what  joy, 
what  delight  would  you  not  perceive  everywhere  ! 
what  words  would  be  uttered  by  all  to  their  wives 


292  Pliny  the  Younger 

and  children,  even  around  the  domestic  hearths 
and  altars  !  For  you  know  that  it  is  customary  to 
refrain  from  speaking  of  disagreeable  things  to  such 
as  are  most  tender  and  delicate.  And  moreover, 
since  love  and  hatred  are  opposed  one  to  the  other, 
in  that  very  place  where  we  express  in  the  least 
measured  terms  our  love  for  good  princes,  we 
manifest  most  freely  our  hatred  of  bad  princes. 

Why  do  I  attempt  to  trace  all  these  details  and 
to  gather  them  together,  as  if,  in  truth,  I  could 
either  embrace  in  my  discourse  or  hold  in  my 
memory  all  the  speeches  that  you,  O  Conscript 
Fathers,  have  decreed  should  be  placed  in  the 
public  records  and  graven  in  bronze  that  oblivion 
may  not  destroy  them  ?  In  former  times  it  was  the 
custom  that  only  the  orations  of  the  princes  should 
be  perpetuated  by  being  committed  to  this  sort  of 
record  ;  our  acclamations  were  confined  to  the 
walls  of  the  Senate  House.  But  there  were  some 
orations  of  which  neither  the  Senate  nor  the  prince 
could  be  proud.  But  as  to  these  it  was  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  and  the  dignity  of  the  State 
that  they  should  be  set  before  the  people  and 
handed  down  to  posterity  ;  first  that  the  whole 
world  might  know  of  our  loyalty  and  bear  witness 
to  it ;  second  that  it  might  be  known  that  we 
dared  to  express  our  judgment  of  good  and  bad 
rulers,  and  that  too  not  merely  after  they  were 
dead  ;  and  lastly  that  by  this  act  it  might  be  made 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  293 

known  that  in  former  times  we  were  thankful 
although  we  were  wretched  and  that  we  were 
grateful  to  those  to  whom  it  was  not  permitted  us 
to  show  our  gratitude.  But  with  what  eagerness, 
with  what  exertion,  with  what  clamor,  have  men 
demanded  that  you  should  not  suppress  our  affec- 
tion and  ignore  your  deserved  praise  !  Let  princes 
also  learn  to  distinguish  between  true  and  false 
praise  and  let  them  consider  that  they  can  not  be  de- 
ceived in  regard  to  their  deserts  ;  that  it  is  not  for 
them  to  construct  a  new  road  to  glory,  but  rather 
for  them  not  to  desert  that  already  built ;  that  rever- 
ence is  not  to  be  put  aside,  but  rather  to  be  rein- 
stated in  its  proper  place.  It  is  certain  also  what 
they  ought  to  do,  and  also  what  they  ought  to 
expect  if  they  do  it.  What  further  shall  1  pray  for 
in  behalf  of  the  Senate,  in  addition  to  those  things 
for  which,  with  the  Senate,  I  have  already  prayed, 
except  that  joy  may  remain  in  your  heart,  which 
you  have  revealed  to  our  eyes.  May  you  love  this 
day  !  May  you  deserve  new  acclamations  of  ap- 
proval and  ever  hear  them  anew  !  for  shouts  of 
approval  may  not  be  uttered  except  for  similar 
deeds.    .     .     . 

Friendship,  that  ancient  good  of  mortals,  had 
faded  from  the  hearts  of  men  ;  in  its  place  had 
come  flattery,  blandishments,  and  a  pretended  love 
worse  than  hatred.  In  the  home  of  princes  the 
name  of  friendship  remained  merely  as  an  empty 


294  Pliny  the  Younger 

mockery.  For  how  could  friendship  exist  between 
those  of  whom  one  appeared  to  be  the  master,  and 
the  other  the  slave  ?  You  restored  that  friendship 
which  had  been  expelled  and  banished  to  a  distance. 
You  have  friends  because  you  are  first  a  friend. 
This  was  to  be  expected,  for  love  is  not  to  be  im- 
posed upon  subjects  as  are  other  obligations,  and 
as  there  is  no  other  sentiment  which  is  so  noble, 
so  free,  and  so  impatient  of  any  control,  so  there  is 
none  which  needs  more  to  be  mutual.  A  prince 
may  be  unjust,  he  may  be  hateful  to  some,  even 
though  he  himself  does  not  hate  ;  but  he  cannot 
be  loved  unless  he  himself  loves.  You  esteem, 
because  you  are  yourself  esteemed  as  a  friend,  and 
in  this,  which  is  most  honorable  to  both,  is  your 
whole  glory ;  for,  although  you  are  the  superior, 
yet  you  condescend  to  assume  all  the  obligations 
of  friendship,  and  in  the  friend  the  Emperor  is  laid 
aside,  or  rather  you  are  the  more  the  Emperor  be- 
cause you  act  as  a  friend.  For,  since  the  condition 
of  a  prince  requires  that  he  have  many  friends,  it  is 
the  especial  duty  of  a  prince  to  acquire  them. 
May  this  sort  of  life  be  always  pleasing  to  you,  may 
you  most  firmly  retain  not  only  all  your  other  virtues 
but  this  as  well,  and  may  you  never  be  persuaded 
that  anything  is  more  unworthy  of  a  prince  than 
hatred.  The  most  delightful  thing  in  human  affairs 
is  to  be  loved,  and  not  less  delightful  is  it  to  love. 
May  you  enjoy  both  of  these  pleasures ;  so  that 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  295 

the  more  warmly  you  love  a  friend,  the  more 
ardently  you  may  be  loved  in  return  ;  not  only  be- 
cause it  is  easier  to  love  one  than  to  love  many, 
but  also  because  you  have  such  power  in  binding 
your  friends  to  you  that  it  is  not  possible  for  one 
not  to  return  you  a  yet  greater  love,  except  he  be 
an  ingrate.     .     .     . 

Very  many  princes,  when  they  have  become  the 
masters  of  citizens,  have  become  the  slaves  of  freed- 
men.  They  have  been  ruled  by  the  counsel  of 
such  and  by  their  mere  nod.  Through  such  per- 
sons they  have  been  accustomed  to  hear,  through 
such  to  speak ;  through  such  have  pr^torships, 
priesthoods,  and  consulships  been  bestowed  ;  they 
have  even  been  sought  through  such.  You  have 
the  greatest  regard  for  your  freedmen,  but  only  as 
freedmen.  You  think  that  it  is  quite  enough  for 
them  if  they  are  esteemed  upright  and  worthy,  for 
you  know  that  powerful  freedmen  are  by  no  means 
a  proof  of  a  great  prince.  For  you  have  no  one  in 
your  employ  except  such  as  were  beloved  by  you 
yourself,  by  your  father,  or  by  the  best  of  princes, 
and  you  train  them  every  day  to  measure  them- 
selves not  by  your  station  in  life,  but  by  their  own. 
So  much  the  more  worthy  are  they,  accordingly, 
of  every  honor  which  may  have  been  bestowed 
upon  them  because  they  have  not  needed  it.  Has 
not  the  Senate  and  the  Roman  people  for  just  causes 
bestowed  upon  you  the  surname  of  Optimus  ?    It 


296  Pliny  the  Younger 

was  evident  to  all  that  it  was  fitted  to  you,  and  it 
was  new.  You,  indeed,  know  that  no  one  before 
you  deserved  it,  because  it  had  never  been  thought 
of  even  if  any  one  had  seemed  to  merit  it.  Would 
it  have  been  better  to  have  called  you  Felix  ?  But 
that  title  is  given  not  so  much  for  character  as  for 
great  success.  Would  it  have  been  better  to  have 
bestowed  upon  you  the  title  of  Magnus  ?  To  this 
title  attaches  more  of  envy  than  of  honor.  A 
most  excellent  Emperor  adopted  you  into  his  house, 
but  the  Senate  into  the  name  of  Optimus.  This 
was  as  appropriate  to  you  as  your  own  name  which 
you  had  from  your  father ;  for  he  who  named  you 
Trajan  did  not  mark  you  out  more  distinctly  by 
that  name  than  he  who  called  you  Optimus,  just 
as  formerly  the  Pisones  were  distinguished  for  their 
frugality,  the  L^lii  for  their  wisdom,  the  Metelli 
for  their  patriotism.  But  all  these  are  comprised  in 
that  one  name  Optimus.  For  no  one  can  seem  to 
be  the  best  unless  he  be  superior  to  all  others  in 
every  kind  of  virtue.  Therefore,  after  all  other 
appellations,  this  has  been  justly  bestowed  upon 
you  as  the  greatest.  For  it  is  not  so  much  that 
you  are  Emperor  or  Caesar  or  Augustus,  as  that  you 
are  superior  to  all  Emperors,  Ciesars,  and  Augusti. 
And  so  Jupiter,  the  parent  of  men  and  gods,  is 
first  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Optimus,  and 
after  that  under  the  name  of  Maximus.  Your  glory 
is,  therefore,  all  the  more  renowned,  as  it  is  certain 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  297 

that  you  are  no  less  Optimus  than  Maximus.  You 
have  obtained  a  name  that  cannot  pass  to  another 
without  appearing  flattering  to  a  good  prince  and 
false  in  a  bad.  For  although  all  may  hereafter 
assume  it,  yet  it  will  always  appear  as  peculiarly 
yours.  For  just  as  we  are  reminded  by  the  name 
Augustus  of  him  upon  whom  it  was  first  bestowed, 
so  this  surname  of  Optimus  will  never  occur  to  the 
minds  of  men  without  recalling  you  ;  and  as  often 
as  our  descendants  shall  be  compelled  to  call  any 
one  Optimus,  so  often  will  they  call  to  mind  him 
who  first  deserved  that  name. 

What  must  your  joy  be  now,  O  divine  Nerva, 
when  you  perceive  that  he  whom  you  chose  as 
the  best  not  only  is  the  best  but  is  called  the  best ! 
What  joy  that  you  are  surpassed  by  your  own  son 
when  compared  with  him  !  For  in  no  other  way 
is  the  greatness  of  your  heart  and  mind  more  clearly 
shown  than  in  that  you  are  not  afraid  to  select  one 
better  than  yourself  But  as  for  you,  O  Father 
Trajan  (for  you  also  are  seated,  if  not  among  the 
stars,  yet  very  near  them),  may  you  experience  the 
same  unbounded  delight  when  you  look  upon  your 
own  son,  that  noble  tribune,  that  brave  soldier, 
that  great  general,  that  distinguished  Prince,  and, 
in  friendly  rivalry,  you  who  adopted  him  dis- 
pute with  him  whether  it  was  more  honorable  to 
have  adopted  or  to  have  begotten  such  a  son. 
Hail  to  both,  to  both  who  have  so  well  merited  of 


298  Pliny  the  Younger 

the  State,  upon  which  you  have  conferred  so  great 
a  benefit !  For  one  of  you  the  bravery  of  your  son 
has  gained  a  triumph,  for  the  other  the  glory  of 
deification  ;  but  yours  is  the  same  glory,  though 
these  honors  have  come  to  you  through  your  son, 
as  if  they  had  been  acquired  by  your  own  merits. 

1  know,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  that  not  only  the 
private  citizens  but  the  consuls  in  particular  ought 
to  be  so  minded  that  they  should  feel  themselves 
under  greater  obligations  to  the  State  than  to  indi- 
viduals. For  as  it  is  more  just  and  noble  to  hate 
bad  princes  for  the  wrongs  that  they  have  done 
the  public  rather  than  for  the  wrongs  that  they 
have  inflicted  upon  individuals,  so  it  is  more  beau- 
tiful to  love  good  princes  for  those  services  which 
they  have  rendered  mankind  rather  than  for  those 
they  have  rendered  individuals.  But  because  it 
has  become  the  custom  that  consuls  in  the  public 
rendering  of  thanks  should  acknowledge  on  their 
own  account  how  much  they  personally  owe  the 
prince,  permit  me  to  perform  that  duty  not  more 
for  myself  than  for  my  colleague,  the  most  noble 
Cornutus  Tertullus.  For  why  should  1  not  offer 
thanks  for  him,  for  whom  I  am  not  the  less  indebt- 
ed ?  Especially  when  a  most  indulgent  Emperor, 
on  account  of  our  perfect  harmony,  has  bestowed 
upon  us  both  those  things  which  if  he  had  conferred 
them  upon  only  one, would,  nevertheless,  have  put 
both  under  obligations.     Upon  us  both  that  robber 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  299 

and  spoiler  of  all  that  was  good  [Domitian]  had  by 
the  slaughter  of  all  our  friends  breathed  with  his 
breath  of  flame  till  the  last  moment  of  his  life.  For 
we  rejoiced  in  the  same  friends  and  we  mourned 
the  same  friends  taken  away,  and  as  now  we  have 
the  same  hope  and  joy  so  then  we  shared  the  same 
grief  and  fear.  The  divine  Nerva  had  been  so 
honored  in  our  dangers,  that  he  wished  to  advance 
us  both  as  if  we  were  good,  although  we  were 
less  than  that ;  because  it  is  significant  of  the 
change  in  the  times  that  they  whose  one  wish  had 
been  to  fall  completely  out  of  the  mind  of  the 
Prince,  now  prosper. 

We  had  not  yet  completed  two  years  of  service 
in  a  most  laborious  and  important  office,  when  you, 
O  most  excellent  of  princes,  and  bravest  of  emper- 
ors, bestowed  upon  us  the  consulate  as  well,  so 
that  even  the  highest  honor  might  seem  to  be  en- 
hanced by  the  rapidity  of  the  preferment.  So  great 
is  the  difference  between  you  and  those  princes 
who  strive  to  make  their  benefits  hard  to  obtain 
and  who  imagine  that  the  honors  they  bestow  are 
more  acceptable,  if  despair  and  disgust  and  a  delay 
that  is  almost  denial  have  first  made  them  appear 
like  dishonor  and  defeat.  Modesty  only  prevents 
us  from  recounting  by  what  evidences  of  your 
favor  you  have  honored  us  both  ;  and  in  love  of 
rectitude  and  love  of  country  you  have  made  us 
equal  to  the  consuls  of  old.    Whether  justly  or  not, 


300  Pliny  the  Younger 

we  dare  not  decide,  because  it  would  be  wrong  to 
dishonor  your  assertion  by  passing  any  judgment 
upon  it,  and  it  would  be  an  embarrassment  to  us 
to  confess  the  truth  of  what  you  have  said  about 
us,  especially  since  it  has  been  so  noble  and  glori- 
ous.   You  are  worthy  of  making  consuls  when  you 
make  them  of  men  about  whom  you  can  say  such 
things.    You  will  pardon  us  if  we  say  that  among 
the  many  acts  of  kindness  which  you  have  done 
us,  that  which  you  did  in  again  choosing  us  to  be 
your  colleagues  is  the  most  pleasing  to  us.    Our 
mutual  affection,  the  harmonious  tenor  of  our  lives, 
our  unity  in  theory  and  purpose,  demand  that  it 
should  be  so  ;  and  indeed  so  great  is  the  similarity 
of  our  character  that  it  lessens  the  glory,  for  it 
would  be  as  wonderful  for  either  of  us  to  disagree 
with  the  other  as  it  would  be  for  one  of  us  to  dis- 
agree with  himself.    Therefore  it  is  not  something 
transitory  and  sudden,  this  fact  that  each  of  us 
delights  in  the  consulship  of  his  colleague  as  in  his 
own.    Those  who  are  twice  made  consuls,  though 
at  different  times,  are  twice  bound  together ;  but 
we  have  twice  been  consuls  together,  we  together 
discharge  the  duties  of  that  office.    We  are  con- 
suls, the  one  with  the  other,  equally  and  for  a  sec- 
ond time. 

What  a  distinguished  mark  of  your  favor  it  was 
that  while  we  were  prefects  of  the  treasury  you 
bestowed  upon  us  the  consulship,  even  before  you 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  301 

had  appointed  our  successors !  Dignity  was 
heaped  upon  dignity ;  the  honor  was  not  merely 
continued  but  was  doubled,  and  one  overtook  the 
other,  as  if  that  were  not  sufficient.  So  great  was 
your  confidence  in  our  integrity  that  you  doubted 
whether  you  would  act  without  abandoning  your 
customary  care  for  the  State  if  you  allowed  us  to 
be  private  citizens,  after  vacating  offices  of  the  high- 
est importance.  What  can  I  say  of  the  fact  that 
you  bestowed  upon  us  the  consulship  for  the  same 
year  in  which  you  yourself  held  that  office  ?  No 
other  page,  then,  will  receive  you  as  consul  than 
that  which  will  receive  us,  and  our  name  shall  be 
added  to  the  records  in  which  your  name  will  be 
inscribed.  You  thought  it  worthy  of  you  to  pre- 
side over  our  assemblies,  and  to  repeat  to  us  that 
most  sacred  oath  of  consecration.  By  your  judg- 
ment we  were  made  consuls,  by  your  voice  we 
were  proclaimed  such,  so  that  you  appeared  in  the 
Senate  House  as  the  supporter  of  our  honors  and 
in  the  Campus  Martins  as  the  one  who  announced 
them.  What  a  joy  for  us  that  you  associated  us 
with  yourself  above  all  in  that  month  adorned  by 
your  natal  day  !  To  us  it  will  fall  by  an  edict  and 
by  a  public  show  to  celebrate  with  a  triple  joy  that 
day  which  removed  the  worst  of  princes  [Do- 
mitian],  gave  to  the  world  the  best  [Nerva],  and 
gave  birth  to  a  better  than  the  best  [Trajan].  A 
chariot  more  splendid  than  usual  will  receive  us 


302  Pliny  the  Younger 

under  the  observation  of  your  eyes  ;  amid  favora- 
ble omens,  and  contending  vows  w^hich  shall  be 
offered  you,  we  shall  be  borne  along,  exulting  and 
uncertain  from  which  side  the  greater  shouts  of 
approval  strike  our  ears. 

Above  all  else,  however,  we  must  acknowledge 
that  you  allow  us  whom  you  have  made  consuls 
to  be  consuls  in  fact,  since  no  danger  or  fear  of  the 
Prince  weakens  and  destroys  our  integrity  as  con- 
suls ;  we  need  hear  nothing  against  our  will,  nor 
need  we  give  any  judgment  under  compulsion. 
The  respect  that  is  due  that  office  remains  and  will 
continue  to  remain,  and  we  shall  not  lose  our  free- 
dom by  any  act  of  authority.  So,  if  by  chance  the 
consular  dignity  shall  in  any  respect  be  diminished, 
it  will  be  our  fault,  and  not  the  iault  of  the  times. 
For  so  far  as  the  Prince  is  concerned,  we  might  be 
such  consuls  as  were  the  princes  before  now.  Can 
we  render  any  thanks  to  you  equal  to  your  kind- 
ness otherwise  than  by  always  remembering  that 
we  were  consuls  and  your  consuls,  than  by  having 
emotions  and  thoughts  that  are  worthy  of  consuls  ? 
by  so  bearing  ourselves  in  the  State  as  to  believe 
that  there  is  really  a  State  ?  by  in  no  respect  neg- 
lecting our  consulship  and  our  work,  and  not  think- 
ing that  we  are  separated  and,  as  it  were,  put 
asunder  by  the  consulship,  but  joined  together  by 
it,  by  holding  the  same  place  of  toil  and  care  as 
we  hold  of  respect  and  honor  ? 


The  Panegyric  on  Trajan  303 

In  concluding  my  discourse,  O  gods,  the  guardi- 
ans and  protectors  of  the  Empire,  and  thee  before 
all  others,  O  Capitoline  Jove,  I,  the  consul,  pray 
in  behalf  of  human  affairs  that  you  may  favor  them 
with  your  blessings  and  grant  long  continuance  to 
your  splendid  gifts.  You  have  heard  what  we 
have  invoked  for  an  evil  Prince  ;  hear  what  we 
desire  for  one  most  unlike  him.  We  would  not 
distract  you  with  our  prayers.  We  do  not  pray 
for  peace,  concord,  security,  wealth,  or  honors ; 
for  all  our  wishes  and  vows  are  embraced  in  the 
one  petition,  for  the  protection  of  our  Prince.  And 
in  this  we  do  not  ask  of  you  anything  that  is  new. 
For  you  received  him  into  your  care  when  you 
rescued  us  from  the  jaws  of  that  most  greedy  rob- 
ber [Domitian].  For  not  without  your  aid,  when 
the  highest  were  trembling,  did  he  who  was  placed 
loftier  than  all  others  remain  unshaken.  He  was 
passed  over  by  the  worst  of  Princes,  he  who  could 
not  be  passed  over  by  the  best.  You  sent  to 
him  an  unmistakable  sign  of  your  favorable  judg- 
ment when,  as  he  was  departing  for  the  army,  you 
yielded  to  him  your  name  and  honor.  You  uttered 
your  thoughts  by  the  voice  of  the  Emperor ;  you 
selected  for  him  a  son,  for  us  a  parent,  and  for 
yourself  a  Pontifex  Maximus.  Therefore  with  the 
more  confidence  and  with  the  same  vows  that  he 
himself  orders  to  be  offered  for  him,  I  pray  and  be- 
seech you  that  if  he  rules  well  the  State,  if  he  rules 


304 


Pliny  the  Younger 


for  the  best  interest  of  all,  you  will  preserve  him 
for  our  grandsons  and  great-grandsons  and  that 
you  may  give  him  for  a  successor  one  whom  he 
has  begotten  and  whom  he  has  moulded  and  made 
like  to  himself  who  was  adopted,  or  if  this  be  de- 
nied by  fate,  that  you  may  be  in  his  counsel  when 
he  chooses,  and  point  out  for  him  one  who  is 
worthy  to  be  adopted  on  the  Capitol. 

Translated  for  this  volume  by  Joseph  Cullen  Ayer,  B.D.,  Ph.D. 


p.  ANNIUS  FLORUS 

p.  Annius  Florus  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Domitian.  He 
studied  rhetoric  and  oratory  under  the  leading  teachers  of 
Rome.  He  early  developed  and  exhibited  much  talent  as  an 
orator.  He  became  embittered  by  the  partiality  shown  to  his 
opponents  in  a  Capitoline  rhetorical  contest,  left  Rome,  and 
settled  in  Tarraco.  Here  for  a  number  of  years  he  taught 
rhetoric.     In  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  Florus  returned  to  Rome. 

Of  his  style  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  even,  artificial,  and  in- 
flated, yet  here  and  there  a  gleam  of  poetry  and  very  often  a 
touch  of  spirit  render  his  writings  interesting. 

The  works  of  this  author  which  have  survived  are  his 
epitome  of  Livy's  History  of  Rome,  some  lines  De  Rosis  and 
De  Qiialitate  Vitx,  and  the  introduction  to  a  dialogue  entitled 
Vergilius  Orator  an  Poeta.  This  last  fragment  can  not,  in 
any  sense,  be  styled  an  oratorical  masterpiece.  It  is,  however, 
of  great  importance  as  an  illustration  of  the  declamations  of 
the  second  century,  and  an  example  of  what  was  regarded  in 
that  age  as  eloquence.  The  work  of  Florus  was  appreciated 
by  his  contemporaries,  and  his  Epitome  retained  its  popularity 
for  centuries.  The  style  of  Florus  was  much  admired  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  his  works  were  constantly  declaimed. 

The  best  edition  of  the  fragment  given  is  that  of  Rossbach 
in  the  Teubner  Series. 


VOL.  II.— 20. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  DIALOGUE,  "WAS 
VIRGIL  AN  ORATOR  OR  A  POET?" 

[Fragment.]  Florus. 

The  following  selection  from  Florus  is  an  excellent  example  of  his  general 
style.  His  simple  and  yet  poetic  diction  is  displayed  at  its  best,  and  the  pecu- 
liarly pastoral  character  of  the  excerpt  makes  it  a  fitting  introduction  to  the  subject 
of  Virgil's  writings,  a  discussion  upon  which  succeeds  the  fragment  given, 

AS  I  was  refreshing  my  brain,  weary  with  much 
wakefulness,  in  the  pleasant  shade  of  many 
trees,  in  the  cool  shadow  of  the  aqueducts,  in  the 
freedom  of  the  air,  suddenly  there  met  me  certain 
men,  whom,  as  they  were  returning  from  the 
sights  of  Rome  to  B^tica,  an  adverse  wind  from 
Africa  had  driven  to  our  shore. 

One  of  them  who,  as  afterward  appeared,  was  a 
man  of  learning,  suddenly  came  up  to  me  and  said  : 
"  How  do  you  do,  my  friend  ?  If  it  is  not  tres- 
passing on  your  good  nature,  will  you  please  tell 
me  your  name  ?  for  somehow  my  eyes  bring  you 
to  my  mind,  and  I  indistinctly  recall  you." 

"  In  me,"  I  said,  ''you  see  Florus,  and  perhaps 

also  you  have  heard  him,  if  it  happened  that  you 

307 


^o8  Florus 


o 


were  present  at  our  contest  in  that  famous  assem- 
bly of  the  world  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Domitian." 

''  Are  you  the  man  from  Africa,  whom  we  unani- 
mously applauded  ?  "  returned  the  B^tican.  ''  In- 
deed, it  was  against  the  desire  of  Cresar  that  he 
opposed  you,  not  because  he  envied  you,  a  boy, 
but  in  order  that  Africa  might  not  carry  away  the 
crown  of  great  Jupiter." 

When  he  found  that  I  modestly  assented,  he 
ardently  embraced  me  and  said  :  ''  Then  love  one 
who  applauded  you."  ''  How  should  I  not  love 
him  ?  "  I  cried.  And  thereupon  eagerly  embracing 
each  other,  we  pledged  our  growing  friendship, 
when  he,  after  a  brief  interval,  said  : 

''  Why  do  you  remain  so  long  in  this  province  ? 
You  neither  come  to  our  Bietica  nor  revisit  that 
famous  city  where  your  verses  are  continually 
sung  and  where  that  famous  triumph  over  Dacia 
resounds  in  every  forum.  With  your  distinguished 
ability  and  great  genius,  how  can  you  endure  the 
obscurity  of  the  province  ?  Does  love  for  the  city 
and  that  famous  people,  conquerors  of  the  world, 
and  the  Senate,  have  no  effect  upon  you  ?  In  fine, 
are  you  not  influenced  by  the  light  and  brilliancy 
of  the  imperial  power,  which  seizes  upon  and  turns 
the  gaze  of  gods  and  men  upon  itself?  " 

Then  was  I  greatly  disturbed,  and  asked  : 
"What  would  you  have  me  answer?     Indeed, 


Was  Virp^il  an  Author  or  a  Poet  ?       309 


this  is  to  me  also  a  wonderful  thing,  that  1  do  not 
abide  in  Rome  ;  but  nothing  is  more  difficult  than 
to  account  for  my  actions  or  to  reply  to  your 
charge.  Therefore  cease  to  reopen  the  wounds 
of  my  sorrows  by  bringing  the  past  to  my  memory. 
May  the  State  of  Rome  be  prosperous,  and  may 
those  enjoy  her  to  whom  fortune  permits  it.  As 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  since  that  day  which  you 
witnessed,  when  1  saw  the  crown  of  victory 
wrested  from  my  hands  and  brow,  my  whole 
mind,  my  whole  soul,  recoiled  and  shrank  from 
that  State,  and  I  was  so  smitten  and  astounded  by 
grief  that,  forgetful  of  my  native  land  and  of  my 
beloved  parents,  I  wander  like  a  madman  hither 
and  thither  through  different  lands." 

"  What  places  and  what  lands  have  you 
roamed  ?  "  he  then  asked. 

"  If  you  have  leisure  1  will  briefly  relate,  and  not 
unwillingly  will  recall  the  near  past.  First  I  vis- 
ited noble  Sicily,  the  home  of  Ceres.  Then  I 
greeted  fertile  Crete,  the  native  land  of  the  Thun- 
derer, and  the  neighboring  Cyclades.  Then  I  be- 
took myself  to  Rhodes,  and  thence  to  the  Egyptian 
sea,  that  I  might  behold  the  shores  of  the  Nile 
and  the  people  always  idling  in  the  temples,  play- 
ing on  the  musical  instruments  which  are  dedicated 
to  a  strange  goddess.  Thence  I  returned  to  Italy, 
and  when,  disgusted  with  the  sea,  I  sought  the  in- 
terior, as  I  journeyed  on  I  crossed  the  Gallic  Alps, 


o 


lo  Florus 


pale  with  the  North  Wind  ;  then  the  setting  sun 
attracted  me,  and  I  turned  hither  my  course,  and 
the  Pyrenees  mountains,  white  with  the  Alpine 
snow,  welcomed  me.  You  see,  stranger,  what  re- 
gions of  sea  and  land  1  have  traversed.  Allow  me 
then,  wearied,  here  at  length  to  rest.  If  I  were  a 
wandering  Scythian,  I  would  now  set  free  my 
steeds  ;  if  a  wandering  navigator,  the  prow  dedi- 
cated to  the  goddess  of  the  sea  would  be  moored 
to  the  shore.  To  what  end  should  we  continue  to 
roam  ?  The  wild  beasts  return  to  their  lairs,  and 
the  birds  grow  old  in  their  nests.  If  fate  denies 
me  Rome  as  my  abode,  at  least  may  it  be  my  lot 
to  remain  here.     Habit  is  a  potent  power. 

"  You  see  here  a  people,  O  stranger  and  friend, 
quietly  devoted  to  a  frugal  life,  siuggish  indeed, 
but  hospitable  in  heart.  A  peculiarly  temperate 
climate  mingles  its  seasons,  and  the  whole  year 
wears  the  aspect  of  spring.  The  land  is  fertile  in 
its  plains,  and  on  its  hills  it  does  not  redden  with 
the  dryness  of  autumn,  for  it  rivals  the  vineyards 
of  Italy.  If  it  is  pertinent  to  the  subject,  I  will  add 
that  the  State  itself  was  founded  with  the  most 
favorable  omens,  for  besides  the  standards  of 
Caesar  there  is  also  a  foreign  nobility  which  brings 
triumph,  whence  it  receives  its  name.  Look  upon 
the  ancient  temples  ;  there  is  worshipped  that 
horned  pirate  who,  while  he  was  roving  the  whole 
ocean  with  a  Tyrian  maiden,  lost  her  at  this  place, 


Was  Virgil  an  Author  or  a  Poet  ?       311 

and  therefore  stopped  here  ;  then,  forgetful  of  her 
whom  he  was  carrying  off,  suddenly  fell  in  love 
with  our  shores." 

When  I  had  ceased  to  speak,  the  Ba^tican  imme- 
diately exlaimed  :  ''O  happy  State,  which  when 
you  were  weary  chanced  to  receive  you !  Still, 
how  are  you  supported,  and  what  business  do  you 
engage  in  here  ?  Whence  comes  your  income  ? 
Or  does  your  father  send  you  money  from  Africa  ?  " 

''Not  so,  since  1  offended  him  by  my  wander- 
ings.    I  support  myself  by  teaching  literature." 

''  Oh,  most  unworthy  employment !  With  what 
patience  can  you  bear  to  sit  in  the  schools  and 
teach  boys  ?  " 

In  reply  to  these  questions  from  the  man,  I  an- 
swered in  this  fashion  :  ''  1  do  not  wonder  that  you 
are  now  of  this  opinion,  with  which  I  also  at  one 
time  struggled.  For  in  the  last  four  years  I  had 
become  so  wearied  of  this  occupation  that  1  did 
not  think  that  a  more  wretched  man  lived.  But 
afterward,  reviewing  and  comparing  my  lot  with 
the  fortunes  and  labors  of  others,  the  beauty  of  the 
work  which  I  had  undertaken  at  length  dawned 
on  me.  Therefore  you  must  know  that  no  kingly 
power,  no  pr^torship,  no  honor,  can  be  compared 
with  this  profession  of  ours.  If  the  mightiest  of 
emperors  were  to  bestow  upon  me  a  centurionship 
—  that  is,  to  command  a  hundred  men  —  it  would 
indeed  not  seem  a  small  honor ;  if  he  should  grant 


312  Florus 


o 


me  a  perfectship  or  tribunate,  doubtless  it  would 
seem  the  same  honor,  except  that  the  salary  would 
be  more  ample  ;  but  if,  then,  not  C^sar,  but  For- 
tune, grant  me  this  gift,  to  preside  over  honorable 
and  generous  boys,  ought  I  not  to  seem  to  you  to 
have  attained  a  beautiful  and  glorious  office  ?  For 
1  ask  you  closely  to  consider  this  question,  whether 
it  is  nobler  to  command  men  wearing  the  military 
coat  or  boys  clad  in  the  toga  pr^texta  ?  barbarous 
and  wild  hearts,  or  civilized  and  harmless  ones  ? 
O  good  Jupiter,  how  regal,  how  imperial  it  is  to  sit 
upon  a  raised  platform  moulding  good  characters 
and  directing  the  pursuit  of  sacred  literature  !  now 
reading  the  sacred  poems  by  which  characters  and 
hearts  are  moulded,  now  exciting  the  feelings  by 
the  expression  of  various  thoughts,  or  by  illustra- 
tions."   .    .    . 

Translated  by  the  Editors  of  This  volume. 
END   OF  VOLUME   II 


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THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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